Ninja Force
by Redrogue17
Summary: It's the Ninjago series and piolets but with a semi-crossover twist. You'll know what I mean, when you see it. Enjoy! T just in case.
1. Way of the Ninja

**Check it out, my first cross-over, sorta. You'll see why soon enough. Enjoy and Review please!**

* * *

It was a quiet morning in a small village in the mountains; the rice farmers were busy planting and harvesting their crops, the children were in bed trying to get an extra minute of sleep, and the young blacksmith was hard at work crafting his wares. No one seemed to notice an old man walk along the main pathway into the village. If they did, they only assumed he was just passing by, nothing exciting ever happened here, well except for the passing of the previous blacksmith; fortunately his teenaged son took over the shop along with his sister, who was mostly in charge of the finances and customers.

The boy with brown messy-spiked hair grunted a bit as he pounded the hot metal into the shape of a sword blade and then dipped it into cold water, all while saying, "To forge the perfect weapon, you just need the right metal and plenty of heat. Cool it off and… presto!"

He groaned when he saw that his "perfect weapon" had curled up and became completely useless. His sister (with short black hair and a red sleeve-less mandarin dress), however, was slightly amused.

"You made it too quickly Kai," the girl addressed her older brother, "be patient. If father was still here, he'd say…."

"I know," Kai interrupted, "'no matter how much fire you have, experience isn't something you learn overnight.'"

The two missed their father a lot, but Kai wanted to be like him and more, effective protecting his sister as a samurai would and putting the family shop "Four Weapons" on the map. In order to do that, the young man had to be better than the best-of-the-best!

Returning his attention to the forge, he stated, "That may work for you, Nya, but I'm gonna be a better blacksmith than dad _ever was_."

Has they were talking; neither of the two noticed an old man enter the shop.

"Hmm," the elder mused, "Your metal is loud and heavy: useful to slow one down, useless in the art of stealth. All tools of a samurai…"

The man paused and banged his bamboo walking staff against some armor before observing, "But nothing for a ninja?"

"Ninja?" Kai said while putting the "sword" away, "You're a long way from finding a ninja in these parts old man."

Then the younger male pointed to the sign on the roof and snapped while walking within an inch of the man's face, "And the shop is called 'Four Weapons' not 'For Browsing.' Either buy something or go peddle your insults somewhere else."

"Ha! Too bad," the old man remarked, "thought I'd find something special here."

Kai looked at his sister who gestured him to show the man around.

"If it's something special you're looking for, let me show…" The young blacksmith never got the chance to finish his sentence or apologize.

The old man left without another sound. Kai looked around a bit before muttering, "He was just…. Forget it."

After putting a helmet away, the boy looked back at the shop's entry wall; he couldn't help but feel lousy and that he was such a jerk. Kai didn't mean to be harsh, but this was the only way he could support himself and Nya. Sure he could just sell the shop and find another career, but she was really all he had left and he had no other way of keeping food stocks than to make and sell blacksmith wares. He only hoped the old man would understand, but the only thing the elder understood was that Kai was not a people-person.

* * *

Just then, smoky dark clouds covered the sky and the rice farmers looked up at the sound of motor powered vehicles, both of which were not commonly together in this part of Ninjago. Suddenly, the noise was identified as the sound of bone built motorcycles and monster truck of the Skeleton army!

On the monster truck, there were two high-ranking generals on either side, and the army's leader behind and between them.

"OOO! OOO! _OOO!_" the general with a metal eye patch and "bone-hawk" begged, "Let me go down there first, _please_! I'm dyin' to go down there!"

"You nitwit! You're already dead!" the general with the samurai helmet snapped, gestured to the spiky general then to their leader, "Try to control yourself in front of Master Samukai!"

Then, clearing his throat and playing kiss-up, the latter general addressed his master, "with all due respect sir, last time, you did say I could go first."

Looking at the two generals, Samukai stated, "Sorry boys, this one's mine. Just remember what we're after and… FIND. THAT. MAP!"

"ATTACK!" the master then ordered, raising a bone dagger as the signal.

The Skeletons rode into the little village like a biker invasion. Seeing that they were being attacked, the rice farmers charged the invaders; until Samukai shouted "BOO!" which caused a woman rice farmer to scream and the others to their homes, and the skeletons followed.

"What are they?" Nya asked herself and her brother while watching the commotion from their shop.

Weird things never happen here, so naturally she was worried. He was already wearing some of the armor they planned to sell, and a large curved sword in his hand; Kai was prepared for the worse. He lost his father, but he will not lose his home or worse his sister.

"I don't know," Kai answered, putting on a helmet before telling Nya, "Stay here."

Has soon as Kai entered the scene, two foot soldiers attacked: one wielding a thick bone for a weapon, the other had a bone with an ax blade. He blocked them one at a time, and then he took a swing at the bone-armed, only for its head to pop off. So he turned his focus to the soldier with the ax-bone and defeated it. His reward: a sudden pain on his leg.

"OW!" he cried.

Looking down, his saw the loose head bouncing in place.

"Bite this!" the armed blacksmith yelled before he kicked it over the shop's roof.

Two other foot soldiers, for some odd reason, stood by the side lines clapping; unfortunately for them, neither noticed Nya sneak up behind them before she knocked them to the ground. Kai noticed though, and he was agitated.

"I thought told you to stay back," he said with a raised sword and a worried look on his face, more concern about her safety than the dozen skeletons surrounding him.

"And what?" she explained as she jumped in to help take out the soldiers, "Let you have all the fun?"

* * *

Behind the sibling's backs, the two generals were sneaking into the shop. Splitting up, they started looking in the suits of armor. The helmeted general noticed that his comrade was actually admiring his reflection as he tried on one of the helmets.

"You're not looking hard enough!" the more focused general shouted, throwing a helmet at the sillier one.

"OW! You're not looking hard enough!" the spiked general countered, throwing the helmet back at his "friend" whose he turned 360 degrees.

The two then proceeded to slap-fight each other until the more serious general punched his companion into the front entrance wall. This caused a chain reaction of the phone falling off its receiver, two swords falling off the front bench, a main support pole for the sign to get loose, and the sign itself to fall. And behind the sign was:

"THE MAP!" the two generals exclaimed.

* * *

Pushing off another soldier, Kai turned to find that he was facing their leader, diverting the "samurai blacksmith's" from the two generals. The human laughed and moved into a fighting stance; after knocking down all those other bone-heads how hard can this guy be? Samukai uttered an evil chuckle and pulled out his bone daggers, ALL FOUR OF THEM!

"OOPS!" Kai muttered, realizing his error in judgment; This guy looked like trouble.

Samukai advanced slowly towards the boy, then uttered a battle roar and clashed weapons. Kai was doing his best to block each blow, but the master skeleton relieved the lad of the sword and kicked him down. Then, as Kai stared with a face blank of any fear, the skeleton leader rotated his hands, moving faster and faster to make a sawing effect for the final blow. Just as all was about to end for Kai, an elderly voice cried "NINJA GO!" and a golden tornado knocked the four-armed skeleton around. Getting back on his feet, Samukai recognized his new attacker: the old man who had visited Kai not more than three minutes ago.

"Sensei Wu!" the four-armed dead man mocked, "You're Spinjitzu looks rusty!"

"Nothing like bone to sharpen its edge, Samukai," the old man responded.

After hearing Kai grunt, Samukai turned his head to see that the boy was struggling to get up, and right under a tall water tower. With an evil chuckle, the skeleton threw his daggers at the elder (who dodged them easily) and struck one of the tower's legs, causing it to fall.

"Oh no," Kai muttered as he saw the tower falling towards him.

"Ninja Go!" the traveler shouted has he spun into the golden tornado and pushed Kai away from the tower.

The two heard Samukai chuckle again and saw him boarding the bony monster truck.

"Lord Garmadon says 'take the girl,'" the four-armed master told the helmeted general.

"Lord Garmadon?" the man whispered.

How could that be… there was no way… right?

The helmeted general laughed, even though he didn't go down first, he got to kidnap someone. Activating the grappling claw, he aimed and fired it at Nya who was still fighting off some skeletons. It grabbed her and she screamed.

"NYA!" Kai cried, his arms extended, as if to try to grab her back.

The claw pulled her to the top of the monster truck and the skeletons drove off, Samukai laughing all the way. Kai tried to run after them, but he couldn't keep up.

"They took Nya," he said to himself, a defeated look appearing on his face.

This was the worse day of his life, his sister was gone now, her life in danger, who knew what those boneheads would do to her. Kai tried not to think about that.

"I told you," the old man said, tapping the boy's helmet with his cane, "useless."

Kai growled. The old man obviously knew that undead four armed freak and had some sweet moves, which he used to save Kai but didn't bother to help Nya.

"You could've done something!" Kai yelled, "You could've used your twist-itzu, or your…"

"Spinjitzu!" the man corrected.

"But you did nothing," Kai finished, "I'm gonna get my sister back."

As the armored male walked off, the elder spoke, "where they go, a mortal cannot."

Kai stopped in his tracks; now the old guy wanted to help?!

"That was Samukai, king of the Underworld," the man continued as Kai turned to face him, "and if it is true that he's carrying out orders for Lord Garmadon, then I fear things are far worse than I ever thought."

"Lord Garmadon?! Underworld?! What do we have that's so important to them, and why would they take my sister?!" Kai ranted, gesturing distress with his arms.

"What's so important?! How about everything in Ninjago itself!"

And so the old man explained everything using history…

* * *

_**"Long before time had a name, Ninjago was created by the first Spinjitzu master, using the five weapons of Spinjitzu: the Scythe of Quakes, the Nun-chucks of Lightning, the Shurikins of Ice, the Gauntlets of Energy, and the Sword of Fire; weapons so powerful, no one can handle all their power at once.**_

_**"When he passed away, his two sons swore to protect them, but the oldest was consumed by darkness and wanted to possess them. A battle between brothers broke out and the oldest was struck down and banished to the Underworld.**_

_**"Peace returned and the younger brother hid the weapons. But knowing his brother's relentless ambition for power, he placed a guardian to protect them, and for fear of his own demise, a map for an honest man to hide..."**_

* * *

"That honest man was your father," the old man concluded, a sitting Kai looking with a somewhat amazed expression, "the older brother is Lord Garmadon, and I need to find those weapons before he does."

"You… you're the younger brother?" Kai realized, "then… you came here looking for the map?"

"No, I came for something greater… you."

Kai was confused, why would an aged warrior who still possessed great fighting skills need a young small-town blacksmith?

"Since my brother cannot enter this realm," the man explained, pointing at Kai when he came to his point, "it's obvious he has struck a deal with Samukai. If he were to collect all five weapons, even I would not be able to stop him again. But you… you have the fire inside. I will train you to harness it, use it; become a Spinjitzu master."

"Look, I'm faltered you think I'm all that, but I gotta save my sister, not get involved in your sibling rivalry," the lad responded.

But as he walked away, the old man attacked, pinning him down, the man's cane inches from the boy's face.

"Ha-ha, clumsy brute," the man addressed his victim, "you are not even ready to face my pinkie toe."

Kai struggled to push the man off, Nya and her safety were too important for the blacksmith, but the armor held him back.

"If you want to get your sister back, you must control the fire that burns inside. Only when you become a Spinjitzu master will you be able to face Lord Garmadon."

Looking up, Kai hesitantly agreed, "Okay, when do we start?"

* * *

So Kai had no choice but to agree; he didn't think the man would take 'no' for an answer anyways. But first, he had to follow the man to where he needed to train, which was apparently on the top of a very tall mountain. There was a craved-in staircase leading up to their destination, but no, the old man insisted on climbing up the opposite side, something Kai struggled at but the man took to like a spider. This was great, Nya was so hooped.

After what felt like, and probably was, hours of grueling work, they finally reached the top of the mountain. At the peak was a grand old building surrounded by a large outer brick wall with huge double doors in the front. The elder sat on a large boulder.

"How long is this training gonna be?" Kai asked, "Aren't we in a little bit of a rush since they have the map?"

"Patience," the man replied as he got up from his perch.

Opening the doors to an empty courtyard with a large dragon statue in the middle, the elder walked in while Kai slowly followed.

"You will be ready when you are ready. Not a minute sooner," the man continued.

"A monastery? You expect me to learn how to fight in a place of peace?" Kai panted.

"Not fight… train. To become a true ninja, first you must be able to see what others do not."

"But there's nothing here!"

The old man lightly tapped the post of a smaller dragon statue near the entrance, which then fell backward but was still hinged, revealing a small red button. The lad gasped as he watched the elder press the button. In response, the training equipment rose from its resting place under the courtyard, creating an obstacle course that seemed to be meant to increase ones speed and stamina.

"Whoa! Is this gonna teach me to do that cool move?" Kai asked in excitement.

He then jumped into a crane position onto one of the posts, jumped again this time facing the man, but then the post started to sink into the floor under Kai's weight.

"Oh dear…" was all the elder had time to say.

Kai was then flung off, and fell onto the dragon statue twice before landing on the floor. He looked up to see his "teacher" sitting down on the front steps with a tea set next to him.

"Complete the course before I finish my tea, and then we will see if you are ready," he instructed, pouring some tea into a cup.

The old man then drank the cup quickly while Kai is still on the ground, and set the cup on his lap.

"Today you failed," he said, before entering the monastery, "Tomorrow you will try again."

"FAILED?! But I didn't start to…" Kai protested, but the doors closed.

"Patience," the lad heard the elder say from behind the door.

* * *

Over the next few days, Kai slowly improved on each course but failed every time by something that caught him off guard. This drove him crazy and mad, his sister was in mortal danger and here he was, playing ninja but not getting anywhere. So, after many failed attempts, Kai entered the courtyard with a determination like he never had, and the old man noticed it but pretended not to care. This time, Kai moved so swiftly, the elder had to be equally swift to get in his sugar cubes; and as he was about to take a sip, Kai threw his wooden play-sword , knocking the tea-cup out of the man's hands half way through the course. The elder leaned over to start again, but when he looked up, Kai was nowhere in sight.

"Was that one sugar or two?" he heard Kai say; the lad had finished and was now sitting next to the man.

The elder smiled, got up and started to walk into the monastery.

"So… am I gonna learn this Spinjitzu I've been hearing about?" Kai asked.

"You already have. Your final test comes tomorrow," the elder answered before the doors closed," My advice is to get some sleep."

* * *

Later that night in the training grounds, four black garbed figures sneaked onto and through the building without waking up the old man. The figures made their way to the bathroom where Kai, now in a pair of striped red PJs, was brushing his teeth.

M_y advice is to get some sleep_, the words reminisced in Kai's mind.

"Oh yeah? Well take this! And this!" Kai said, as he "fought" his reflection.

He waved his brush around forcefully while the figures landed in the room without making a sound, "And this!"

Kai then spun around and stopped, for he came face to face with a figure wielding a scythe. The others surround him. One had two metal shurikens, another held a pair of nun-chucks, and the fourth didn't seem to be armed except for her metal armbands. Of the four, Kai could tell that the armband-intruder was most likely female.

"Oops," Kai muttered, gritting his teeth.

To be continued….


	2. The Golden Weapons

The figures moved in to attack, but Kai stuck his tooth brush into the shuriken wielding figure's mouth, who spat it out, hitting the nun-chuck guy in the head, then hit the girl in her face, and then fell into the scythe –man's back, causing him to give an expression of discomfort. The figures looked up and saw Kai running along the beams. The shuriken wielder surprised him, but Kai dodged his kick- attack and the figure landed back into the room.

Kai laughed but the girl intruder jumped up and kicked Kai through the building, landing into the courtyard and hit the post, in which the statue falls back, revealing the button. The figures rushed into the courtyard and Kai activated the training equipment, disarming each figure.

They engaged in fist and kick combat, which led to everyone piling on top of Kai.

"Stop!" the man ordered, coming into the courtyard.

The figures got off of Kai and bowed.

"Yes Sensei/Master," the one female and three male voices obeyed.

"Sensei? Wait a minute! They're your students too?" Kai asked, the man nodding.

"Then, this was my final test?!" Kai realized.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" nun-chuck guy spoke, "You never said anything about a fifth. It's always four: four corners of a square, four points on a compass, four..."

"What he's trying to say Sensei is that we all trained together, we're solid," explained the scythe wielder.

"Didn't look so solid to me," Kai scoffed, the scythe wielder glaring at him.

"Well, you could have at least mentioned a newbie," warrior girl intruder complained, "We could've killed him!"

"Master, what is the meaning of this?" the shuriken man asked.

"Each of you have been chosen, each in tune with elemental properties. But first… NINJA GO!" Sensei spun into the gold tornado and passed each of the figures.

After passing each, the five of them were in different colors: the shuriken man in white, Kai in red, the nun-chuck guy in blue, warrior girl in orange, and the scythe wielder still black.

"Whoa!" Kai exclaimed.

"How'd he do that?" the girl warrior asked.

"Ha-ha! Look what color I am!" Nun-chuck guy gasped.

"Wait a minute... I'm still black," Scythe man said confused.

"Kai, Master of Fire, It burns bright in you," Sensei pointed to Kai, who promptly spun around.

"Jay is blue, Master of Lightning," Sensei pointed to the nun-chuck guy.

"Heh... that's not all I'm the master of. I do a little inventing, dabble in model building, a touch of cooking, a little poetry…" Jay babbled.

"Uhhhh, more like mouth of lightning," Scythe man muttered, orange girl snickering behind him.

"Aniki the orange ninja, with powers over mind and matter, Mistress of Energy," the old man said, pointing to the girl.

Aniki to Kai, removed her hood— revealing her brown messy bun and unusual pale skin— and said, "And don't think for a second that I'm the damsel-in-distress type."

"Black ninja is Cole, solid as rock. Master of Earth"

"Nice to meet you kid; I got your back," Cole said, taking off his mask, revealing his raven black hair, "And for the record, there ain't nothin' in this world I'm afraid of."

"Except for dragons," The white one corrected.

"Dragons aren't from this world Zane. I said 'in this world'," Cole replied in a nervous tone.

"And White ninja is Zane, Master of Ice and seer with sixth sense," Sensei pointed to Zane, who spun his shurikens and made them disappear.

"I sense this one takes things a little too seriously," Kai said, leaning toward Aniki.

"You also have the gift?" Zane asked amazed, taking off his mask showing his tan hair.

"Ha-ha. He's just making a joke Zane," Jay said, taking off his mask, showing his brown hair, "Remember what we talked about… your sense of humor?"

"Yes. It was a joke. Ha-ha." Zane "laughed", Jay face palmed.

"Pay attention! You five are the chosen ones who will protect the five weapons of Spinjitzu," Sensei said.

"But what about my sister?" Kai interjected.

"We're saving a girl! Is she hot?" Jay asked.

"Jay!" Cole and Aniki moaned simultaneously.

"What? I just want to know what we're getting ourselves into," Jay defended, and then turning to Kai asked, "Does she like blue?"

"Back off," Kai warned.

"When we find the weapons, we will find your sister," the elder explained.

"Whoa! Hold on a minute. You said you were gonna teach us Spinjitzu," Cole said.

"Spinjitzu is inside each and every one of you. It will only be unlocked when the key is ready to be found. Come! My feet are tired. We will take the horse carriage," Sensei said before walking inside.

"Great," Aniki said.

"Now we have to find a key?" Jay asked.

"Yeah… I have a feeling he's taking us for a ride." Cole said.

"Well if it means finding my sister, then sign me up," Kai said before putting on his mask.

* * *

The next day, all of them were pulling a cart with Sensei riding it.

"_Sign me up_," Jay imitated, then scolded Kai, "Way to go Sparkplug!"

"Shut up Jay, just pull," Aniki yelled.

"I sense this is some strange form of team building," Zane said.

"Yeah well it sucks eggs," Aniki complained.

"Just keep pulling. We've got a long way to go," Cole said.

"So... where did Sensei find you guys?" Kai asked.

Aniki lokked away and replied, "I'll tell ya later."

"Let's just say if it weren't for Sensei Wu, I don't think we would ever be seen together." Cole explained, "I was testing my limits…"

* * *

_Cole climbed the tallest mountain with nothing but his bare hands. He reached the top to see Sensei Wu offering a cup of tea._

* * *

Jay added, "I was testing my invention…"

* * *

_Jay jumped off a building and began to glide on his wings but crashed through a bill board. He then noticed Sensei next to him offering a cup._

* * *

Zane continued, "I was testing myself…"

* * *

_Some onlookers stared at a hole in a frozen pond. Underneath was Zane, he then looked to his side to see Sensei and almost choked on the water. Sensei offered some tea before drinking it._

* * *

"Your right, if it weren't for Sensei, none of us would…" Kai said.

"Stop!" Sensei cut him off.

The five stop pulling and followed Sensei to the edge of a large hole.

"The Caves of Despair. Samukai must be close to unearthing the Scythe of Quakes. Remember; do not use the weapon, for its power…" Sensei stated before being interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… 'Is too much for us mortals,'" Jay said, "Alright Guys, lets chop-sockey this lemonade stand."

"Cole, do you have a plan?" Aniki asked.

"Sure do. First we lower ourselves down the ledge, and then… _Where's Kai_?" Cole asked, upset that the new guy ran off on them.

They look into the hole to see Kai sneaking through, staying close to the walls.

"Let's go," Cole ordered and they all sneaked their way, following Kai's path.

* * *

They went under a light cart, stopping every time a when they felt that a skeleton was going to look. Kai spotted Samukai on a tower with the map the lesser generals stole just as the others pacify Krazi… by grabbing him, pulling him into the cart, beat him up, and leave him in a pile with a bone in his mouth.

Kai continued sneaking through while the others climbed under bridges, and rode under conveyer belts.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" the spiky-headed general cried, picking up what he saw, "I found something!"

"That's another rock you bonehead!" shouted his helmeted companion.

"But it's shaped like a doughnut! I wonder if it tastes like one," the former said.

Well, he bit it, chipped a tooth, and moaned while his "friend" groaned. Kai finally got to the top of the tower and the others caught up.

"What's the matter with you?" Jay whispered while hitting Kai on the head as they peered through a window.

"Shh," Kai shushed.

They looked through the window to see Samukai put the map down on a table, facing the right way to the ninjas.

"It's upside down!" Kai whispered.

"They're digging in the wrong spot," Aniki whispered back.

"The golden weapon is near," Zane realized before bringing out one of his shurikens.

He then threw the shuriken, attached to a rope, to the map and brought it up to them without Samukai noticing.

"There's no time to waste," Kai stated before dashing down and sneaking away, having seen where the prize was.

"What is with this guy? Always in a rush," Jay whispered in annoyance.

So, they sneaked their way to a cavern where Kai snuck into. Unlike Kai, the other four were spotted, but Aniki had this situation in the bag.

"You don't want to alert the others," she said, waving her hand in front of the sentry's face.

"_I… don't… want to… alert the… others…"_ the sentry dazedly repeated, as if it were his own idea.

"You want to… go play in the sand instead," Aniki said, repeating the process.

"_I want… to go… play… in… the sand… instead…_" the sentry repeated.

He then left without making another peep.

"I'll never get how you do that," Zane admitted.

"What can I say," Aniki gloated, "It's a gift."

When they joined up, Kai was struggling to push open a large rock slab.

"Hey, before you race off again, you need to remember we're a team," Cole reminded.

"That means we work together, hint-hint," added Aniki.

"Yeah, whatever," Kai muttered as they walked over to him and helped push the slab open with ease.

As the group entered the chamber, they saw the Scythe of Quakes glowing while being surrounded by what seemed to be a crafted dragon head.

"Whoa! That is so cool!" Jay shouted.

Unfortunately, his voice echoed through the caverns and reached the skeleton outside.

"Shut it Jay! Someone could hear us!" Cole whispered as he pulled the Scythe out and wraps it in a cloth.

"Oh, come on, don't be paranoid. We're totally on the opposite side of the caves," Jay said.

"Zip it okay? Now that we've got the scythe lets sneak out while those boneheads are still busy," Aniki scolded as Cole tossed the scythe to Kai.

The group began to walk out of the chamber, failing to notice the dragon head move.

"All right team. Everyone stick together. Our way out is right around the corner," Cole said, until they came face to face with Samukai and his army.

The boys brought out their weapons and pressed forward while slashing away at the skeletons. Kai then got surrounded by skeletons.

"Kai! Throw it here!" Zane shouted, waving.

Kai threw the scythe to Zane who then threw it to Aniki and then to a running Cole.

"There's too many of them!" Kai shouted while slashing.

"_Ya think?!"_ Aniki shirked.

"Let me handle that. Hyah!" Jay cried.

He swung his nun-chucks everywhere, but then noticed something familiar.

"Hey guys! It's just like the training course!" He yelled, "Over the planks, dodge the swords, here comes the dummy!"

Jay acted out the movements and before he knew it, he turned into a blue tornado of lightning and began attacking every skeleton in his path.

"Whoa!" Aniki remarked, "Spinjitzu!"

"Jay! What's the key?!" Kai shouted, hoping to learn the answer.

"I'm just going through the motions! This is what Sensei must have meant when he said we already know it!" Jay answered.

"Over the planks, Dodge the swords, here comes the DUMMY!" Kai shouted before transforming into a raging red tornado of fire.

"He-he. He called you a dummy," the spiky general said to the helmeted one.

"No. He called you a dummy." The latter snapped before the two run out of the way of a white tornado.

"I sense you do not stand a chance," Zane stated in front of Samukai after he finished his Spinjitzu.

"Retreat!" Samukai yelled and the skeleton ran out of the cave from five elemental tornados.

"Hah! I guess they didn't want a second serving of these babies," Cole gloated, flexing his arms.

Jay and Aniki face palmed.

"Good thing they didn't check out the merchandise in the back," Cole added and then turned around and was instantly scared, "Uh… guys!"

"Wait a minute," Aniki realized, "this was _too_ easy, even with those boneheads."

"Didn't Sensei say there was a guardian protecting the weapons?" Zane asked.

The rest of the ninja turned around and did not like what they saw.

"Is that a-a. That's not what I think it is. Is it?" Cole stammered.

"You mean a dragon?" Aniki squealed.

"That sure looks like a dragon!" Kai shouted.

"I sense we won't be able to spin our way out of this one!" Zane spoke.

The dragon unleashed an earthen breath and everyone ducked out of the way and ran to another spot.

"I thought dragons weren't from this world!" Cole said.

"That doesn't mean they don't live in it!" Aniki retorted.

Kai looked at the scythe in his hands and took off the cloth.

"No no, Kai! Bad idea, Sensei told us not to!" Jay warned.

"Well then you'd better be ready to keep your mouth shut," Kai snapped before running into the battle field, readying the scythe.

"Kai!" Cole shouted.

"Don't!" Aniki added.

Kai struck the ground, causing a crack to form under the dragon's feet and rocks to fall onto the beast, distracting it long enough for the team to get out of the dead end.

"We have to find a way to escape!" Aniki cried, right at that moment, the ceiling above them splits open.

"We'll use Spinjitzu!" Cole decided.

Just as the dragon charged for the ninja, they turned into tornados and quickly spun up the walls and out of the crack, and stopping in front of their teacher. The teenaged ninjas, now out of the danger zone, celebrated their first victory.

"HA-HA-HA-HA! That was so awesome!" Cole exclaimed.

"Yes! We are unbelievable!" Kai agreed, but Sensei spied the scythe in Kai's hand and instantly became upset.

"We are the best!" Aniki and Zane shouted, high-fiving each other.

"Ha-ha! Did you see that? I was like POW! And then you were like BAM!" Jay said.

"ENOUGH!" Sensei yelled, "I told you not to use the scythe!"

"He used it," Jay said, pointing to Kai.

"What?" Kai asked.

"We tried to warn him Sensei," Cole added.

"Using it was my only option," Kai defended.

"And what makes you think you're more important than the team, huh?! HUH?!" Sensei rebuked

"They took my sister remember?" Kai angrily retorted.

"Master, you weren't there. We were being attacked by a _huge_ dragon," Aniki explained, coming between master and pupil, "we were trapped, none of us could come up with a way out; Kai was just trying to help."

The elder looked at Aniki then back to Kai, if she was willing to defend him, then the ninja definitely had more to learn.

"There are still four weapons left. Maybe next time you can do it right." Sensei said, letting Kai get away with it.

"Don't worry Kai, I get it," Aniki comforted, "Just try not to be too hasty."

* * *

In the underworld, Samukai sat on a throne-like chair, clearly worried.

"Master, I have failed you. They have learned Spinjitzu and they have the scythe," Samukai admitted in a shaky voice.

"Good. Then my brother was there," a deep gravelly voice responded.

"If I gather my army, we can easily ambush them at the-" Samukai started, hoping to redeem himself.

"No. Let them think they're winning." The voice coolly commanded.

"But I do not understand," Samukai said.

"Everything is going to plan," The voice observed, giving off a soft but evil chuckle.


	3. King of Shadows

**Hello there, I just wanted to point some things out. First, "Aniki" is (a) something I totally made up and (b) pronounced "Ann-eh-key". Second, she is voiced by Ashleigh Ball who plays Rainbow-dash in the new MLP series (I just caught a **_**glimpse**_** of that baby show, liked the voice and looked it up, that's all). Oh, and finally: I own only OCs and plot tweaks and any non-show based chapter I write. **

**Warning: there will be some changes to the original story, due to this one being a semi-crossover.**

* * *

The next day, a boat was sailing through a freezing cold sea surrounded by towering masses of ice. Cole was steering the ship, Aniki stared out into the icy background, and Jay was bored.

"I spy something… white," Jay said, breaking the silence and trying to entertain himself.

"Uhhhh, could you try to be quite for once?" Aniki said, not looking at anyone.

"Yeah, this ain't easy," Cole added, referring to the steering.

The ship then scratched against an ice mass, Cole quickly regained control and groaned.

"I spy something broken," Jay stammered.

"Huh… If Sensei knows the way to the next golden weapon, why isn't he steering the ship? We've been drifting aimlessly for miles," Kai asked anxiously, shivering from the cold.

"Sensei's wisdom is beyond my own," Zane replied, the two looked up to the old man who was in a pose at the front of the ship.

"The most powerful move in Spinjitzu can only be accomplished when all five elements are combined. Earth! Ice! Fire! Lightning! Energy!" Sensei began doing stances for each element.

Jay and Aniki joined up with them.

"Uh, what happens when all of them are combined?" Jay asked.

"The Tornado of Creation: the power to create something out of nothing," Sensei Wu lectured.

Kai began doing the same as Sensei combined with kicks.

"No Kai; if done incorrectly, it will lead to disastrous consequences," the elder warned.

"Disastrous consequences… right," Kai repeated.

Then the ship hit icy ground, causing the sails to turn pale blue and freeze.

"Uh. Wasn't me," Cole stated.

"Even though you were the one at the steering wheel," Aniki mocked.

"Did I do that?" Kai asked.

"No, we are here," Sensei said.

* * *

A large ice mountain stood before them. The group walks into the mountain. The walls are completely made of ice that seems to reflect. In the middle, the Shurikens of Ice hover below a dragon head. Scattered around the room are frozen skeletons.

"Looks like someone's already been here," Cole remarked.

"And failed epically," Aniki snickered.

"The shurikens," Zane exclaimed, pointing.

He jumped up to grab them but got frozen on contact and another dragon is awakened. The team grabbed Zane and ran out of the mountain, yelling on the way. When they reached the path, they rode on Zane down the path, smacking into a glacier at the end and freeing Zane in the process.

* * *

They travel next to an ancient stone city* in the middle of a vast desert, the gauntlets floating in the town square. Getting them was easy, for the ninja were able to grab them while the two skeleton generals, who their master identified as Knuchca and Nuckal, kept the energy dragon busy by running scared, screaming and fraying their arms frantically.

* * *

Next, they headed to the Floating Ruins. Each had a backpack on. Aniki looked over the edge to see the skeletons.

"We're being followed!" she warned.

The team began to climb the chain to where the Nun-chucks of Lightning were. Jay grabbed the nun-chucks and the lightning dragon appeared. They all jumped from their spots and Jay's wing invention glided them into the Forest of Tranquility, none of them noticing Samukai chuckling evilly.

* * *

That night, the team was dancing to Cole beating drums, while their teacher was mediating.

"Come on Master!" Aniki called.

"Join us!" Kai continued.

"There is still one weapon left. We must get our sleep," Sensei reminded them.

They weren't out of danger yet.

"Aw, Sensei! Look, you've got to admit, we're kicking their boney butts!" Jay begged.

"Get up here and show us some moves!" Kai encouraged.

"Mm… I guess I could. Now this move is very special," Sensei caved.

"But if done incorrectly, will it lead to disastrous consequences?" Zane seriously asked, causing the group to laugh.

"Zane! Is that a joke?" Kai asked.

"I think you've finally found your sense of humor!" Aniki cheered before Cole began to beat the drum again.

"Shake like you mean it! Shake like your momma gave you. Yeah. Look at this one, now. Hm hm! Spin round, oh yeah. I put my feet…" Sensei danced until the ninjas started laughing and dancing along as well.

* * *

Later when they were asleep, a voice whispered, "Kai… Kai..."

The second time, Kai woke up, "Huh?"

"Kai..."

"Is that?" Kai recognized the person: it was Nya!

"I have to go," she said before leaving.

"Nya!" Kai called as he ran after her, "Slow down! Why are you running so fast?!"

Kai reached the end of the forest and called, "Nya! Where are you?!"

He saw Nya run into the Fire Temple and ran after her. Inside, he saw the Sword of Fire and Nya, standing in front of it.

"Nya!" Kai called again as he began to run to her; he had never been more happy to see her.

"Don't worry. I'm right here brother," "Nya" said.

However, Nya's voice changed into that of a grown man's and her image changed to a shadow of someone else, with red eyes grew in size.

"_Garmadon_," Kai spat as he reached for his sword only to find that he left it back at camp.

"Forgot something?" Garmadon taunted.

"You can't hurt me here!" Kai yelled, "You're trapped, banished in the Underworld!"

"That is why you, are going to remove the Sword of Fire for me," Garmadon coolly explained.

"I don't think so," Kai said with an angry voice.

He'd never do such a thing.

"Are you sure about that?" the dark-lord asked.

He then disappeared and a chain with the real Nya appeared over the lava behind the sword.

"Kai!" Nya cried.

"Nya!" Kai shouted.

"If you don't remove the sword," Garmadon asked, "how else will you cut the chains to save your precious little sister?"

"You know it's a trap! I can… free… myself! Ngh! Okay that's tight. Aahhh!" Nya struggled to get free but couldn't.

Then the chain started to lower her to the lava.

"Nya!" Kai ran for the sword but stopped at Garmadon's voice.

"Tick tock, tick tock," it taunted.

Kai focused before jumping for the sword. When he grabbed it in mid-air, he used Spinjitzu to cut the chain and catch his sister in time. The two walked cautiously toward the exit.

"Stay close," Kai told her.

"Trust me, I'm not going anywhere," Nya responded as Garmadon reappeared.

"You can't hurt us! You're only a shadow!" Kai snapped.

"Even shadows have their uses," the villain said as Kai's shadow floated in front of them.

"Kai! Look out!" Nya said in fear.

"Stay back Nya," Kai commanded.

"Stay close, stay back. Make up your mind!" Nya said as she hid behind a rock.

Kai did a barrage of slashes but none did any damage, but the shadow kicked Kai back.

"That's not fair!" Nya complained.

"Oh, am I being too hard?" Garmadon mocked as Kai's shadow duplicated several times.

Kai slashed through several shadows but ended up getting hit instead. One of them knocked the sword out of his hand and picked it up, but then a familiar shadow appeared . It belonged to Sensei Wu! As Sensei slashed thin air, his shadow was attacking each of the shadow clones. He used his hands to create an eagle to scare off some of the clones, chuckled a bit, and retrieved the sword.

"_Brother_... I see you protect one, but what of the other four?" Garmadon asked, Sensei faced the shadow.

"They are safe! Far from your grasp Garmadon!" Sensei answered as Kai and Nya joined him.

"I wouldn't be so confident," the dark-lord said before conjuring a light sphere revealing the campsite.

* * *

_Cole was there, still asleep, curled up with his drum. He woke up to see a skeleton staring at him. Cole looked for his scythe but Kruncha had it. He saw Zane, Jay, and Aniki, all tied up with Knuckal sitting on them and Samukai holding three of the golden weapons and wearing the gauntlets._

_"I believe these belong to Lord Garmadon now," Samukai sneered and the skeletons cheered._

* * *

The vision ended as the scene disappeared and so did Garmadon's shadow.

"My brother must not unite all weapons of Spinjitzu; we must keep them all apart!" Sensei warned.

The three jumped to the place where the sword was.

"AWAKEN GUARDIAN OF THE DEEP! THEY'RE STEELING THE SWORD! You must not let them escape!" Garmadon shouted as if in a frenzy.

Sensei jumped onto the fire dragons head just as it appeared from the lava. Sensei jumped back, the dragon blocked the exit and roared with fury.

"There's no way out! He's taken away all our options!" Kai said.

"All but one," Sensei said.

He jumped back onto a piece of rock behind them.

"Sensei! What are you doing?!" Kai shouted just as Sensei sliced the platform he was on free.

"NO! YOU FOOL!" Garmadon shouted in anger.

"If he is to bring the other weapons here, then I will take the Sword of Fire to the Underworld. It is my sacrifice to pay," Sensei said as the platform drifted away in the lava.

"No! It's mine! I should have come on my own. You don't have to do this! There has to be another way!" Kai shouted, but Sensei went over the edge just as he brought out his tea set.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kai yelled and sank to his knees.

"Then I will see you there _Brother_," Garmadon hissed before he disappeared.

"It's all my fault. Sensei won't be able hold out for long," Kai mourned, Nya looked back to the dragon behind her.

"Forget Sensei, what about us?" Nya asked.

The dragon roared again.

* * *

At the camp, Aniki was tied to a tree while the boys were tied up together in one bunch, Jay right side up, Cole and Zane upside down. They were suspended from the ground and struggling but somehow Aniki managed to wiggle free. As the Skeleton army leader was flaunting their success to his minions, Aniki grabbed a loose rock and prepared to throw, but the two generals caught and unmasked her before she could attack.

Samukai turned around, recognized her, and mocked, "Ooo, what were you planning to do, _daddy's girl?!"_

"WHOA, WAIT... TIME OUT!" Cole yipped, "GARMADON'S _YOU'RE DAD?!"_

"No, not really," Aniki clarified, "I'll explain later."

"Whatever, the case…" the four-armed freak said, motioning two underlings to retie her, "You're not going anywhere!"

After some struggling, Aniki was now tied up with the boys.

"To the Fire Temple!" Samukai shouted and everyone cheered, just then, Garmadon appeared to Samukai.

"My brother has taken the Sword of Fire to the Underworld. _Hurry!_ Return home and unite the weapons before it's too late," Garmadon ordered before disappearing.

"Change of plan... to the Underworld!" Samukai shouted and everyone cheered once again.

Nuckal raised his arms up as he cheered, but when he brought them down, he saw that his large sword was "transformed" into a simple stick.

"What happened to your weapon," his counterpart glared as he boarded the truck.

Knuckal just threw the stick away and boarded as well. The skeleton army drove away, the weapons locked behind the truck.

"Great now what?" Aniki groaned after the boneheads left.

"Now we get outta here," Jay answered, pulling up the sword he "borrowed" from the spiky general.

"Uh, Jay, before you do that," Cole warned, "you might wanna…"

Jay swung the sword and all four teens screamed as they fell; though free from the ropes, they were still very sore.

"… Warn us," Cole finished.

"Hey Stupid! They're getting away!" Aniki said.

"Let's go!" Zane added, putting on his mask.

* * *

The others put on their masks, grabbed their normal weapons, and jumped through the trees to catch up. On the monster truck, all the vehicles were speeding. Samukai looked at the speed gauge and growled.

"Faster! We need to go faster to cross over into the Underworld!" Samukai yelled and the vehicles sped up.

One by one, each vehicle disappeared in a purple light, the others drove on.

"There they are!" Cole shouted, they jumped and ran to catch up.

"More speed! We'll never get home at this rate!" Samukai ordered.

The speed gauge was nearing the red after one of the skeleton pumped the gas. But then the gauge went back to the yellow-orange zone.

"What's wrong?" Samukai asked, worried about engine failure.

Looking behind the vehicle, Samukai saw Cole's scythe on a chain connected to the truck and dragging on the ground. Zane jumped onto the truck, catching two of the skeletons attention, who are then knocked down by a branch which Zane ducked. Jay and Aniki jumped onto the hood and knocked of three more skeletons.

"Get them!" Samukai shouted.

"NINJAGO!" Jay and Aniki spun into tornados, knocking off more skeletons before Jay went to where the three remaining weapons were and punched the lock, only to recoil his hand in pain.

"Argh! Okay. That's why they made keys," Jay said.

Cole whacked Kruncha and Nuckal's heads and tried to remove them with a swipe, but their heads popped up causing him to miss.

"Hey Cole! Ack!" Jay climbed up but got hit in the throat by Cole's swing by accident.

First knocking back the two generals, Cole turned to Jay, who was coughing.

"Jay! Sorry, I didn't see you, " Cole apologized.

Zane readied his punch to a skeleton but was then kicked to the front by Samukai, who also kicked Aniki to where Jay and Cole were. Samukai then threw the skeleton driving out and took control himself. He made the truck tilt while accelerating, causing everyone to fly off to land on the road, Cole letting go of the chain; Samukai then disappeared into the Underworld in a bright flash, leaving behind burning tire tracks.

"Uhh, that hurt," Aniki moaned as they all slowly got up.

Lightning filled the sky but neither a cloud nor rain was in sight, making the strikes dark omens of bad things to come.

"Weee diiiiddd nooot stoopppp tttheheee" Jay tried to say but got slurred.

"You don't need to say it, I know… we've lost," Cole sadly admitted.

_To be continued…_

* * *

***= a different ancient city, not the snake one.**

**Something else I forgot to ask, what do you think about Aniki? Come on, be honest, just don't cuss. Any ideas?**


	4. Weapons of Destiny

Sensei Wu woke up on a rock on lava. He got up, the Sword of Fire in his hand and walked to an opening between to rocks.

"Hmmm… The Underworld," he said, looking around.

Floating isles with Skeletons on patrol were everywhere in the dark and gloomy Underworld. Sensei quickly warped the glowing weapon in a cloth after a patrol walked by. He then began to sneak his way through the fortress.

* * *

Meanwhile at the fire temple, the team reached it in hopes of finding the sword and their missing teammate and mentor.

"Kai!" Cole yelled.

"Master!" Aniki called.

Zane removed his mask, somehow knowing little of what happened.

"The Sword of Fire was here, as well as our friends but I only sense loss. We are too late. The four elemental weapons have left this realm and are now in the underworld, the end is drawing near."

"Uhh, the one place no mortal can crossover," Cole lamented as he and the others removed their masks.

"We might not be able to crossover," Kai's voice echoed from the temple; the temple then split open revealing Kai and Nya on the Fire Dragon.

"But a dragon can!" Kai finished, the creature let loose a mighty roar.

Cole jumped and hid behind pillar in fear while the others looked on in awe, their hope renewed.

"Our father used to tell us stories about the dragons," Nya explained, "That they were mystical creatures that belong to both worlds and ferried between them."

"I-d-whacha whacha- _Are you insane_!" Cole stuttered.

"Once he realized we were trying to protect the Sword of Fire, Huh, he actually became quite a softy," Kai said as the dragon nudged him, "Ha-ha! Knock it off."

"Ha-ha-ha!" Nya laughed as well.

"Heww wiikkeee bbblllloooo…" Jay slurred, only to end up coughing.

"He can't talk but he's wondering if you like blue," Zane translated.

"It's my favorite color," Nya responded.

"Hhyyess," Jay slurred, gripping his hand in happiness.

"I don't think you're her type," Aniki whispered, leaning over to him.

"Nya..." Kai said, trying to explain what this meant now.

"This is goodbye, isn't it?" Nya asked.

Kai nodded and she added, "Come back to me in one piece okay? I don't wanna have to run the store on my own."

"I promise, I won't be gone for long," Kai reassured, jumping back on the dragon.

"I'll keep a candle it outside our shop until you return," Nya promised

"Don't worry, we're ninjas, we'll be fine," Aniki waved off as she, Jay, and Zane jumped on.

"Uh yeah... you guys, go on ahead. There's not enough room for all of us on that…thing," Cole said.

The dragon glared at him.

"You're right Cole... but I got a way to fix that," Kai mused.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was on dragons, flying in the sky: Aniki on the Energy Dragon, Zane on the Ice dragon, Jay on the Lightning dragon, Kai of course on the Fire Dragon and Cole… clutching for dear life on the Earth Dragon.

"E-E-Easy. Not so fast!" Cole whimpered.

"Whoo! This is awesome!" Aniki shouted.

"This is- This is quite fun!" Zane agreed.

"So how do the dragons crossover to the Underworld?!" Cole yelled, then the dragons then began to dive.

"I think we're about to find out!" Kai yelled.

As the dragons near the ground, each began spinning, forming a tornado corresponding to their elements and dove into the ground.

* * *

"Is-Is it over?" Cole asked before opening his eyes to see them travelling through crystalline tunnels.

"Hardly!" Kai answered.

"I sure hope these dragons know what they're doing!" Aniki screamed.

Each dragon travels through different tunnels and when they rejoined, Zane gave a thumbs up, Cole was still holding on tightly, Jay was upside down, Aniki had her hands in the air, Kai shook his head at the sight of last two. They all noticed the dragons were speeding up.

"They're speeding up! Hang On!" Kai warned.

"Got that covered!" Aniki yelled back.

Everything went black until the dragons made an abrupt stop, throwing their riders off, although Aniki landed on her feet, the others landed on their stomachs at the edge of a cave.

"Solid ground!" Cole realized, "We made it!"

They look around the Underworld, then to the fortress.

"Sensei's inside," Zane said.

"They're expecting us," Aniki added.

* * *

At the entrance of the fortress, Kruncha and Knuckal are watching the cargo when a cart comes along.

"Hold up. Nothing gets through without inspection," Kruncha ordered.

"Ninja Search!" Knuckal cried before dive bombing into the cart, rummaging through everything, causing his partner to squint away.

Once finished, he jumped back to Kruncha's side, "Ahem. Clear to pass".

All the items were scattered around, his partner groaned.

* * *

Meanwhile, the ninjas clanged onto stalactites, making their way across. Jay jumped onto a thin thing and when he climbed up a bit, he saw a spider's face!

"Hababa! Aa-a-a- siuajuia-hisdgusau-" Jay tried to warn the others.

"Can I be the first to say it's been an absolute pleasure since Jay lost his voice," Cole said to Kai and Aniki, until the ninjas noticed they're clinging to spider legs!

They all let go and fell to the floor in the middle of the isle, in front of the fortress. They groaned as the hit the ground.

"Uhh... if there are more than one ninja, is it 'ninjas' or just 'ninja?'" Knuckal asked his "friend."

"I think it's just ninja," Kruncha snapped.

"Okay then. NINJA!" Knuckal yelled, pointing to said ninja.

The skeletons began to close in around them while the teens were back to back.

"I count ten bone heads for every one of us. I like these odds," Cole counted, until the spiders came down.

"Yippee. This is gonna be one heck of a battle," Aniki cringed.

"Uh oh! Anyone got any bright ideas?!" Kai asked.

* * *

Meanwhile in the fortress, Sensei reached the throne room.

"Brother," said a familiar voice.

Sensei turned around to see Garmadon and unwrapped the sword.

"Brother," the younger of the two replied.

"Seize the sword," Garmadon instructed and several skeletons surrounded Sensei.

"NINJAGO!", Sensei spun around, getting every skeleton and knocked them out, "You'll have to take it from me."

"My pleasure," Samukai says, holding the Weapons of Earth, Ice, Energy, and Lightning. The two begin to duel.

"Teach him... a lesson," the dark-lord sneered, now sitting on the throne.

* * *

Outside, the skeletons and spiders closed in on the ninjas.

"Any ideas? I'm still all ears!" Kai said, Jay got an idea.

"Orayoo ob eaoon," Jay slurred.

"Huh?" Kai replied.

"You feel a weird sensation?" Cole asked.

"Nawooo," Jay slurred.

"You ate an odd crustacean?" Zane asked.

"Orayoo ob eaoon!" Jay slurred a little louder.

"My aunt's constipation?" Aniki asked.

"I got it, I got it! Two natives on vacation!" Kai proclaimed.

"_Torrrnaaaadoooo of_ CREATION!" Jay finally yelled, his voice finally restored.

"Ohh… hahaha." The team laughed.

"Good to have you back Jay," Zane said, panting his blue companion on the back.

"But it could lead to disastrous consequences," Cole reminded them.

"We're about to _have_ a disastrous consequence," Aniki pointed out.

"Let's do this!" Cole grinned.

"Earth!"

"Fire!"

"Ice!"

"Lightning!"

"Energy!"

"NINJAGO!" they all cried.

All elemental tornados combined to create one large tornado: The Tornado of Creation. As the giant tornado swirled around, it sucked in every skeleton, spider, vehicle and most of the fortress. Once it ended, the ninjas looked back to see that they created a large Ferris wheel with all the enemies trapped in it. The two generals were trapped together, the spiky one eating some cotton candy, only for his companion to hit him, causing it to be dropped.

"Come on there's no time to waste," Kai reminded them and they all raced down the stairs to save their master and the world, Zane took the wild way: jumping off and falling.

They all reached the end and saw Sensei and Samukai's duel. The ninjas were ready to help but Kai stopped them.

"No, this is Sensei's fight," Kai told them.

Sensei shot fire at Samukai but the latter dodged it and sent the shurikens toward the former, one froze the sword that was stuck in the ground. The old man managed to get the sword free just as Samukai fired a lightning ball, but then Samukai split the battle field using the scythe. Aniki turned to see Jay eating the cotton candy he took from Knuckal, and elbowed him to stop. Samukai threw the shurikens again, but this time, Sensei dodged but then the four armed freak created and sent an orange energy blast which then hit the elder, causing him to drop the sword; the ninja looked away and cringed.

"Bring me the five weapons," Garmadon ordered.

Samukai, staring at the sword before picking it up, replied, " No... _You_ will obey _me_ now!"

Garmadon merely chuckles as a howling wind blew through. Sensei joined up with the ninja.

"What's going on?" Aniki asked, getting frightened.

"No one can handle all of their power at once," Sensei explained, the weapons shook and rattled in Samukai's hands.

"Selfish fool! You think I wouldn't plan on your betrayal?!" Garmadon sneered as the Weapons began to shake wildly.

"What's… happening… to… me?!" Samukai asked, unable to let go.

"You've fallen _right_ into my master plan. Not even I can handle all of their power! But now that they are combined, it will create a vortex between space and time, allowing me to finally escape this ghastly place," Garmadon explained.

The younger brother gasped, this was worse than letting the dark-lord keep the golden weapons.

"Uh oh," Samukai said before he cried and he turned to dust.

Garmadon stepped off the throne and walked towards the weapons until a bright blue vortex appeared behind him.

"Father would not want you to do this brother!" Sensei cried.

"Father is no longer here!" Garmadon replied.

The light created by the vortex was so blinding to look at that everyone shielded their eyes, well… except for the two brothers and Aniki.

"Good and Evil: there has always been a balance. Where I go, the balance can be destroyed. Soon, I will be strong enough to possess the five weapons, so I may recreate the world _in my image_!" Garmadon proclaimed before stepping into the portal, but not without a few last words in a lower, softer tone.

"Aniki... be careful sweetheart."

With that, he entered the portal and both disappeared. The six remaining people jumped onto the platform.

"He's gone, but he will return," Their mentor observed.

"Then we'll be ready for him!" Kai swore, picking up the Sword of Fire, the other others picked up the weapons corresponding with their elements.

"And keep an eye out in case he has anymore evil plans," Cole assured.

"Whatever they are," Aniki commented, "we'll stop him."

Their teacher smiled, a great evil was on the rise, but now good had a fighting chance to stop it.

"Then I have done my part; the balance has been restored. For now," the elder said.

* * *

Back in Ninjago, the dark clouds disappeared. Nya was still waiting in the shop when the candle went out. Nya smiled and saw Kai on the fire dragon, safe and sound.

"Kai!"

Nya ran out and joyously hugged her brother as the other dragons landed.

"My turn!" Jay shouted, getting off his dragon.

Nya also gave Jay a hug with a slight laugh. Kai was a little upset about that but quickly let it go. As the other three ninjas joined, nearby villagers cheered for the five heroes.

"I'm so happy you're back!" Nya cheered.

"For now, but it's not over. Lord Garmadon will return," Kai responded.

That caused the cheering to stop. The villagers had no idea who Lord Garmadon was, but it didn't sound like a good thing.

"And when he does, we'll be ready for him," Cole assured.

"Because good always kicks evil's butt," Aniki added, punching the air.

The team happily put their weapons together, which resulted in a small explosion, sending them back a bit.

"Ha-ha! Okay, never again!" Cole laughed.

"Yeah, we'll stick to high five's instead," Jay commented.

"Agreed," Zane said.

"Ditto," Aniki giggled.

The team, Nya, and some nearby villagers laughed.

"Was that a joke?" Zane asked.

Kai held the fire-sword in his hands then behind his shoulder and pulled down his mask, waiting for the chance to show his merit once again.


	5. Rise of the Snakes

Many months after their return from their last adventure, the ninja and Nya, Kai's sister, had officially moved into the Monastery with Sensei Wu. Today, as he meditated in front of a burning pot of scented sticks, he also listened to the grunts and other sounds his male students made.

"_Fire-strike!_" he heard Kai exclaimed, bringing the man back into reality.

"Oh my gosh, is that the greatest move you've ever seen?" Kai asked.

That was weird; Kai shouldn't be able to do that yet. And he didn't hear anything from his niece. So he got up to check on his students and their progress.

"Stop trying to do it yourself, we need to attack as a team," he heard Cole scold.

Opening the doors and looking around, the sensei was surprised to see the training equipment out but not in use, and the ninja were not here but their voices could still be heard.

"Zane, why are you wasting your special attack on me?" Jay asked, "You're supposed to save it."

The old man opened the door to find Aniki asleep in the rafters of the video room while her four 'brothers' playing their video game, when the five of them were _supposed to be training_. This would _not_ stand.

"Fantastic, I'm out of lives!" Jay brooded as his teacher silently walked in.

"But the lesson is on, and I am getting the hang of it," Zane replied.

The boys made more random noises.

"Okay, now!" Cole yelled.

They all lean forward towards the television. Then it went black.

"Awww man!" the boys all cried in unison as Sensei Wu pulled the plug on the TV.

"What, what happened?" the girl ninja asked when the foursome's cries woke her up.

"It took us three hours to get there!" Cole complained.

"What? Why did you do that, why?" Jay asked angrily.

Their mentor wanted to slap the back of their heads for their laziness. Evil was still out there and these five were completely blowing the danger off and more importantly_ their training_.

"Just because Lord Garmadon escaped through a vortex doesn't mean he won't return one day for the Golden Weapons of Spinjitsu!" their teacher scolded.

"But Sensei Wu, ever since he has been gone, Ninjago has had nothing but peace," Zane replied.

"Yeah, peace is boring. There's no one to save, there's _nothing_ to do," Jay complained.

"Master, we've been on high alert for _eight months_," Aniki mentioned, "what can _one _day off do to cause trouble?"

"Yeah, we can train tomorrow," Cole said as he leaned back.

"Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today," Sensei Wu warned.

"Well, I was going to eat this pizza tomorrow, so, if that's the case," Cole said and held up a piece of pizza, nearly eating it but the old man kicked it out of the boy's hand.

"No pizza for you! In order to reach your full potential you must train!" Sensei snapped.

"Uh, remember when we did a little thing called the 'tornado of creation'? I thought that's as pretty insane," Kai responded. After all, who else could create something out of nothing?

After jumping off the rafters, his "sister" added, "No one can do what we do, isn't that enough?"

Her adopted uncle just sighed at the five's apparent lack of progress and faith. No, what they can do _now_ wasn't enough, not for their shared destiny.

"You five have merely scratched the surface of your full potential. There are still so many secrets for you to unlock… you haven't even begun to tap into what powers your golden weapons hold," Sensei said, glancing at each of them.

Everyone, however, was unmoved by the lecture. Behind them, a slice of pizza was being heated by the firesword. Then, Cole got an idea.

"You want to talk secret powers, check this out," Cole said.

He then picked up the cord, moves the plug back into the outlet and pushes it in, all with his scythe. The screen turns on and they boys start playing again while Aniki curled into a ball and took another cat-nap. Sensei just pulled his whiskers; these teens were beyond not ready. And at this rate, they'll never be.

"Don't worry Master; we'll be ready when Lord Garmadon returns," Zane said reassuringly. At that moment, Nya rushed in.

"Guys… Lord Garmadon… he's returned!" she exclaimed, "He was spotted approaching Jamonikai Village!"

The guys stumble around and trip on each other, Kai stepping on Aniki. Four of them slightly reorganized themselves and ran out, pulling down their masks; Jay however, was busy looking for his weapon. Nya grabbed it and gave it to him.

"Th..than..thankss..thanks..." Jay stumbled.

"Hurry!" Nya exclaimed.

"Okay!" Jay shouted, flipping his hood down and following the others out.

They all ran to the dragons. Zane ran ahead as Kai lowered the door, nearly hitting Zane. Cole's scythe fell off as he jumped on Rocky, Jay jumped to Wisp's seat only to miss by a mile, and Aniki was barely able to even _get_ _on_ her dragon, Blast. Their master shook his head; they had become _so lazy_ that they couldn't even respond to an emergency properly.

"Can I help?" Nya asked her brother while he got on his dragon, Flame.

"Sorry sis, where we go, danger abounds. This is a job for the ninja," Kai answered. Then he tried to reach the reins, only to come up short.

"Ah, a little help?" he asked then gave a weak laugh.

Both of the girls rolled their eyes. Nya helped Kai pick up his reins and the ninja flew off.

"Will they _ever _reach their full potential?" Nya asked the old man, having overheard some of the conversation.

"In time," the elder answered, "maybe _a long time_, but in time."

Meanwhile, in the skies, the ninja were for once glad that something bad was happening. They had been on vacation for so long, they were sick of it. Who knew a peaceful world was so boring?

"Just like old times, isn't it Rocky?" Cole asked his dragon.

After a few weeks of training on the dragons, Cole had completely gotten over his fear of them. Now, to him, dragons were just like overgrown puppies with scales instead of fur.

"Do you guys believe what Sensei said about unlocking our full potential?" Kai asked.

"It sounds cool; it'd be awesome to learn new tricks," Aniki answered excitedly.

She already had some special abilities that no one else had, having more made her curious.

"He may be on to something, I mean since we got these golden weapons it's not like we've needed to use them. I wonder what they do," Jay replied, examining his nun-chuck.

"I for one look forward to the future, if there is more for us to accomplish, let it be," Zane happily added.

"Don't know about you, but is anyone else a little excited about battling Lord Garmadon? Been waiting to try out some new Spinjitsu moves, could be the perfect opportunity," Cole said excitedly, spinning in his seat.

"Totally," Aniki agreed.

"Ah, isn't a conflict of interest for you?" Kai asked, "Lord Garmadon is, after all, your dad."

"Foster dad!" she angrily snapped, "And don't you forget it!"

"OK!"

"Ha-ha, race you there?" Jay asked.

They all nodded and took off, the dragons happy to be able to fly on such a nice day. Blast flapped his immense wings as he and his rider passed Kai and Flame. Aniki grinned as she passed. He glared at her but smiles. She then zoomed upwards into the clouds to hide and glide past everyone. Blasting through some clouds and dropping back in front of Jay, seeing only Cole and Zane ahead of her. She caught up to Zane and stayed even with him for a while.

"Jimanokai Village; first ninja there wins!" Kai said and shot forward.

They all follow his lead and end up crashing into the ground, tied for first. Not that any of the boys realized it.

"I was first!" Kai exclaimed, instantly standing up.

"No, no one was faster than me!" Jay replied.

"My feet were down before yours," Cole said to Zane.

Zane turns to the others, and corrected, "You are all disillusioned, it was clearly me."

"Um, guys! Hello! Dark-lord sighting! Remember?" Aniki reminded them, gesturing her arms to the village wall.

They all forget the race and ran into town, just to find everyone running like lunatics, screaming in terror and shutting themselves inside their houses. The five ninjas ran inside the entrance to Jamonakai Village, brandishing their weapons. A large shadow appeared on the mountain behind the village.

"Stay sharp team, whatever happens, never let your guard down," Kai said quietly.

A familiar evil laugh echoed in their minds as the shadow got smaller and closer. The figure belonging to the shadow came nearer. It got closer... and closer... until finally, the figure walked out from behind the mountain. But instead of Lord Garmadon, it's actually a little boy in a black graphic tee, pants, and cape.

"It's I, Lloyd Garmadon!" he called out to the hidden town folk before jumping up on the fountain, "I demand all the candy in town_, or else_!"

Aniki just giggled, this was too rich. She hadn't seen her foster brother in years, and now he was trying to be just like his dad, when it was painfully obvious that he had little to nothing in common with the dark-lord.

"_Lloyd_ Garmadon? I thought we were going to face_ Lord _Garmadon," Jay said, confused.

"It's his son!" Cole realized.

"Wait, what?" Jay stammered, looking at their female counterpart.

Aniki had a younger foster brother? The girl stopped giggling so to look at her friend.

"Garmadon _was_ a man before, well, you know," she laughed, "you didn't think he spent his time as a human just sitting around playing video games all day, didja?"

"He must've escaped his boarding school for bad boys again. And to think we could have been doing Spinjitsu already," Cole complained, punching the air as they approached Lloyd.

"Who ever said 'the cherry doesn't fall far from the blossom' never met Lloyd," the girl-ninja replied, glancing at the lad again.

The villagers, now realizing that they were in no real danger, gathered around the fountain with angry expressions on their faces, this made Lloyd nervous.

"Ah, ah, give me your candy, or I'll release the Serpintine on you!" he warned, getting desperate by the second looking at the booing crowd of villagers.

The ninja walked towards Lloyd as he pulled out and opened a can filled with fake snakes, snickering evilly. The people definitely didn't find it funny, and started throwing trash at the poor kid.

"No wait! I asked for candy, not vegetables_. I hate vegetables_!" Lloyd exclaimed, throwing the empty can's lid at them.

That caused many vegetables, banana peels, and other trash to come flying through the air at him, finally piling over him and knocking him down.

"He's gonna have to do a lot better than use an old bedtime story to scare people," Kai observed, launching a rubber snake into the air.

"The Serpentine are real Kai, they are not something to joke about," Zane warned.

"Serpentine… real? We're talking about the ancient race of snake-people who once ruled Ninjago and were supposedly locked underground," Kai scoffed.

"Sealed in five different tombs, to separate the five warring tribes, and insure they don't unify to exact revenge upon those who put them there!" Jay exclaimed worriedly.

"It was an old wives tale, to teach kids not to poke our noses where they don't belong." Kai snapped, obviously getting annoyed no one would drop the subject," Don't you think it's a little suspicious that no one's ever found one of their tombs?"

"That's because you'd be a fool to look for one. If there was anything I hated more that dragons, it was snakes, rubber or not," Cole responded.

"True story or not, there may have been a threat like the Serpentine hundreds of years ago," Aniki stated, "I mean, come on, several months ago we were _fighting the undead_!"

The boys walked up to and grab Lloyd, the lad hitting Jay's head with the empty can.

"Don't worry folks," Cole addressed the crowd, "we'll take care of this, nothing to see here."

"Bow down to me, or suffer my wrath! I'll give you to the count of three! One… two…" Lloyd ordered, struggling to get free from the boys carrying him.

"What are we supposed to do, spank him?" Kai asked.

"_Don't… you… dare_," Aniki hissed from the sidelines as she followed her teammates.

"…Two-and-a-half..."

(Line break)

"_WAA!_ You just made me your nemesis! Mark my words! You'll pay for this!" Lloyd cried, hanging from a happy baby sign's foot over one of the shops.

The boy ninjas and all the villagers laughed at his feeble attempts to get down. Aniki, on the other hand just glared at everyone.

"This is wrong and you boys know it!" she ridiculed her friends. But no one listened.

Zane walked over to a counter, bought the left-over candy and gave it to his friends, keeping a loll-pop for himself.

"Next time, try paying for your candy," Cole advised.

"Crime doesn't pay _muchacho_; you can take that to the bank," Kai smirked.

"Mmm, cotton candy," Jay said, teasing Lloyd, and ate his cotton candy. Lloyd growled and struggled some more, he was really mad now. Finally, Aniki couldn't take this anymore, so she jumped up on the roof and helped the boy down. Setting him on the ground, she pulled out her pieces of candy.

"Now, what's the magic word?" she asked the youth.

Lloyd just tried to take it, but Aniki stretched her arms away from him and gave the boy a look.

"Please?" he finally asked in a dejected tone and a hurt look on his face.

And with that, the girl gave him the sweets and he turned the favor with a quick hug before running off. Some of the villagers went "awww" at the sight of the female ninja being nice to the small trouble maker; Kai, Jay, and Cole rolled their eyes, girls are just too nice and no fun.

(Line Break)

The ninja arrived back to the dragons after dealing with Lloyd. As the other ninja got on their dragons, Kai knocked something out of a bag attached to Flame. Jay and Aniki walked over as Zane picked it up.

"Huh, I don't remember putting that there," Kai said, puzzled.

"That's Sensei's bag, you must have taken it in the rush," Zane explained.

"Um, I don't think you should do that," Aniki warned as Kai unrolled the scroll.

On the scroll were some symbols, and a picture of six ninjas: one was dressed in red, another in black, a third in blue, the fourth in white, the largest in green, and the last in orange.

"What is it?" Jay asked.

"It's a scroll windbag," Kai glared.

"I _know_ it's a scroll, but what does it say, it's written in chicken scratch," he retorted as they crowd around Kai. "Not chicken scratch, the ancient language of our ancestors," Zane replied. "Uh, can you read it?" Kai asked.

"I can try… this symbol means 'prophecy.'"

"Prophecy?" Jay asked, clearly confounded.

"It means it tells the future," Aniki deadpanned.

"Course, I knew that," Jay laughed pathetically.

"_'One ninja will rise above the others and become the Green Ninja, the ninja destined to defeat the Dark Lord'_," Zane read slowly, pointing to the picture of ninjas.

"Oh look, a picture!" Jay exclaimed.

"Dark Lord? Hold on, do you think they mean Lord Garmadon?" Cole mused.

"Wait a minute, is that us? Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Aniki asked.

"Like how good I'm gonna look in green?" Jay asked.

"Isn't it obvious I'm gonna be the Green Ninja?" Kai retorted.

"The color obviously suits me best," Jay snapped.

"Technically, I am the best," Zane countered.

"But I'm different, the only girl, and I already have superpowers, so clearly, it's me," Aniki butted in.

"Everybody stop it! Remember why Sensei brought us together in the first place, we're a team. We weren't meant to see this and probably for good reason," Cole said, breaking up the fight, "Come on, let's head back home, we have training to do."

"It's about time I added some finesse to my routine," Jay replied.

"Well, I could use some exercise," Zane responded.

"I should probably get better at my mental powers," Aniki stated getting on Blast.

"Yeah, I gotta work on some new moves," Cole added as they take off into the sky.

Before taking off, Kai pondered to himself out loud, "Could I be the Green Ninja?"

(Line break)

Far off on a snowy mountain, several minutes later, Lloyd grumbled and kicked a frozen pebble while he walked.

"Stupid ninja! I'll show them who they're dealing with!" the boy said in anger.

This threat didn't include Aniki of course; she was just as much family to him as his father was, even if he and his sister shared no blood relation. Plus, she was the only ninja that was nice to him.

His pebble suddenly flew too far and hit something metallic. Lloyd looked up in surprise. He walked forward and both climbed over a small wall of snow. The boy dropped to the ground and moved some snow to try and find his pebble. A large flat rock was in front of him. Etched into the stone was a snake's head. Lloyd then found a little golden lever by his elbow. He pushed it forward and the flat stone began to split down the middle. Green mist rose from the inside of the mountain. Lloyd stood up and immediately lost his balance and slipped over the edge. When he reached the bottom, the he hit his head on a pointed piece of ice and tumbled onto the frozen floor. The boy looked around he was in an icy cavern complete with frozen stalactites and stalagmites. The sound of dripping water echoed in his ears.

"You are out of your mind to venture sssso far away from home, little one," a low, cold voice spoke from behind him.

Lloyd gasped, turned around, and saw a blue snake-man figure holding a golden staff.

"Look into my eyessss," the figure said, "Give up your mind."

Red waves began pulsing from his eyes, nearly lulling Lloyd into a hypnotic trance. He backed up and the snake followed.

"I will control you."

Lloyd cowered against a stalagmite and sank to the ground. Then, the snake looked at the ice that had collected on the stalagmite behind the human... and hypnotized himself! Lloyd stood up, looked at the ice, realized what had happened, and then laughed.

"No," the boy said evilly, "I will control _you_ from now on!"

"What shall you have ussss do, Master?" the snake asked, bowing.

"Us?" the boy echoed, confused.

More snakes appeared from the shadows. Most people would run away screaming, Lloyd, however, seemed delighted.

"My own army of snakes!" he cried, "Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

(Line break)

"So then we all agree, the prophecy states that one of us will become the Green Ninja, and the issue will not rest until it is decided," Jay said, rather fast.

"Hopefully it'll be decided while I'm still young," Aniki deadpanned.

"I suggest a tournament; last ninja standing is the best," Zane interjected.

"And be declared the Green Ninja! I love it!" Kai exclaimed excitedly.

The boys pushed open the doors to the monastery and walked into the training area to find Nya having a go at it. She did well; overall until she smacked into the flat side of an ax. Jay rushed to her side.

"Hey there Nya; any closer to beating your brother's speed record?" Jay asked shyly as he leaned over her.

"I'm getting there," Nya replied, standing back up with Jay's help. Then she asked, "I heard what happened to town, just a false alarm?"

"Yeah, uh, but we're gonna need the space, sorry sis," Kai answered, putting his arm on his sister's shoulder.

Cole walked over to a cabinet pulled out their kendo gear. He tossed each of the helmets to the others. Jay's helmet hit him on the side of his head, the orange ninja couldn't help but laugh at that. He glared at her and grabbed the armor.

"Two matches, the winner of each will face off for the title. Winner can face off with Aniki. Armor's for our own protection. It's time to see what these babies can do," Cole explained, raising his scythe in the air.

"I think I'll sit this out, seems _way _too stupid for me," Aniki smirked before leaping up to find a spot on the roof to watch the boys humiliate themselves.

"Hey Nya, wanna stay and watch me mop the floor with them?" Kai asked.

"Sounds like great fun, why don't you join?" Aniki copied.

"No thanks, I think I'll go to Jimonokai Village. Knock yourselves out," Nya replied and walked out of the monastery.

"Don't worry; they'll do that," the orange ninja shouted, leaning back on the roof, ready for the show to begin.

"Alright, first up, Kai versus Jay. Ninja GO!" Cole said and spun backwards.

Jay was showing off his nun-chuck skills while Kai raised his sword. Jay spun his nun-chucks around, eventually electrocuting himself, Kai tried unsuccessfully to knock Jay's weapon away. He dodged some of Jay's attacks, and to get around the opponent, he ran across the wall of the building. Jay swung his nun-chucks around, but somehow Kai's sword created a fireball that knocked Jay down. He glanced in awe at the sword. Jay walked off, defeated.

"Next up, Cole versus Zane. Ninja GO!" Kai said and stepped back.

Cole raised his scythe and Zane spun his shrunkens. Cole advanced at Zane, but sliced a piece of training equipment instead. He struck at Zane, but Zane blocked it. Zane jumped up and lands behind Cole, stinting him for a moment. He landed without his shrunkens, but revealed one which he threw at Cole. Cole's eyes widen as he plants his foot on the frozen weapon. Soon, ice grows, reaching its way up to his body to cover in ice. He glared at Zane as the white ninja pulled his other shuriken out of the air. Cole's face was obviously filled with terror as the ice encased his leg. Cole tried to block the shuriken flying at him, while trying deal with the ice already covering half his body. It seemed hopeless for him when he knocked Zane down and pinned him down with the scythe. Aniki clapped her hands; this was starting to look fun.

"For the prize and the title of best ninja," Jay said, bored, Zane sitting next him, "Blah, blah, Ninja-Go."

"I call winner!" Aniki declared, changing her mind.

Kai and Cole began, their golden weapons clashing and clanging. Cole swiped at Kai's head, then back-flipped a few feet. He slammed his scythe into the ground, creating a crack that knocked Kai into a wooden training post. Kai became angry and swiftly got up. He began crazily spinning around.

"It's too hot!" he cried, struggling with his sword.

"What the heck?!" Aniki shouted.

"It's burning," Zane said.

"Fire!" Jay yelled.

Kai spun around and around until he dropped his sword, which caught on fire. The fire spread around and trapped Kai in a circle of flames. Jay and Zane flipped over the small wall of fire. Cole hastily tried putting the fire out by clanging his scythe on the flames. Kai ran around inside the tiny circle while Sensei Wu appeared, throwing open the doors and running outside. He picked up Zane's shurikens and threw them in the air. He concentrated and the shurikens came together. They started generating ice and snow and flew around the courtyard, putting out the fire. They even doused the flames blazing brightly on Jay's rear. Then, the shurikens spun back to the Sensei and he caught them.

"What were you thinking?!" the old man demanded.

"They don't think!" Aniki retorted.

"Uh," Jay explained, "we were trying to figure who was the Green Ninja…"

Zane and Aniki whacked him sharply on his back. Their master wasn't supposed to know they knew about the prophecy.

"Ow! Uh, did I say 'Green Ninja'? No, sorry," He cleared his throat, "What I... What I said was 'lean'- Ah..."

"You were not supposed to see this," Wu sighed.

"But, Master," Aniki said, "we wanna know. Which one of us is the chosen one?"

"None of you!" the elder turned around, "If you do not unlock your full potential."

"But, my sword, it was so bright!" Kai questioned, "Is this what you meant by unlocking our Golden Weapons?"

"You are only at the beginning, and the road is long and winding. But yes, this is what I meant," Sensei Wu said, returning to his room, "If this is what it must take for you to train, then so be it, but none of you are near the level of what it takes to be the Green Ninja."

(Line break)

In Jamonakai Village, Nya walked to a fruit stand. She was about to pick up a pear, but screams and yells reached her ears.

"What now?" she said, looking around.

"Take the candy!" a boy yelled as he pushed a wheelbarrow full of candy out of a house, "Take it all!"

Then, two snake-like things came out behind the boy, one holding a glittering staff. The trio passed by a group of villagers. She saw red waves appear from one of the snake's eyes. The villagers' own eyes became a dark red and they moaned.

Nya crouched behind the fruit stand as the two snakes left the boy.

She heard one say, "Thissss makessss no ssssensssse, General. Raiding an entire town… for ssssweetssss?"

"You will do as I command," the larger of the two commanded, turning around and jabbing the smaller in the chest, "Because I have the sssstaff!"

The ninjas trained with their weapons, each using them to the best of their knowledge. Inside his room, Sensei Wu meditated in front of the incense pot again. Smoke rose from the pot and showed the man an image: Lloyd walking through Jamonakai Village, followed by a group of snake people.

He then burst out of the room and cried, "The Serpentine are back! Everyone in Jamonakai Village is in danger!"

"Calm down, Sensei," Cole reassured, "We were just there. It was some kid who said he was…"

"The Spirit-smoke does not lie!" their mentor insisted, "An ancient evil has been released!"

"Nya's there right now!" Kai remembered.

"Nya?" Jay echoed.

The five ran to the dragons' stables, doing everything properly this time, and set out to Jamonakai Village once again.

"Stay close," Kai warned, "Stay together."

"Would we do it any other way?" Cole questioned.

(Line break)

Lloyd walked through the village, twitching and laughing crazily.

"Ha-ha-ha!" Lloyd laughed, "I'm never coming down from this sugar high! Woo-ho!"

Suddenly, the five Masters of Spinjitzu leaped down in front of him.

"Sorry to bust your buzz, little Garmadon," Cole said, "But it's way past your bedtime!"

"Lloyd Montgomery, what the heck are you doing?! You are in _so _much trouble mister!" Aniki scolded.

"Get them!" Lloyd exclaimed, breaking the conversation.

The largest of the snakes rattled his tail and hissed, "Get them!"

"The Serpentine?" Kai gasped, "They're real?"

The Serpentine closed in around the five.

"It's not just them we have to worry about;" Cole said worriedly, "The whole village has been hypnotized!"

Villagers had joined the Serpentine and were walking with them, moaning and mumbling.

Jay began swinging his nun chucks, until Zane stopped him and warned, "Our weapons are unstable! We could do more harm than good!"

"That leaves us with RUUUUUUUN!"

The ninjas dashed away. They flipped and spun until they came behind a building. They slid along the wall and ducked behind a wheelbarrow.

"Nya?" Kai asked as his sister suddenly jumped in front of the wheelbarrow.

"You're okay!" Jay said in relief.

"Barely," she responded, "They've hypnotized everyone in town!"

"Mind control," Jay asked, "How is this possible?"

"You guys have seen me do it somewhat," Aniki reminded him.

"When you hear them rattle their tails," Nya warned, "don't look them in the eyes! That's how they get you."

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Jay demanded, raising his arms in emphasis, "We can't use our weapons and now we gotta fight with our eyes closed? Perfect."

"The snake with the staff is the general," Nya stated, "He's the one in charge. If we can get the staff from him, it holds the anti-venom. If we get that, we can save everyone!"

"Look guys," Kai sighed, "Forget about the whole Green Ninja thing. Let's make Sensei proud. The five of us; we're a team."

"Now you're talkin'!" Cole grinned.

"And Nya," Jay said to the girl, "you can be our honorary member."

"Gee," Nya said sarcastically, "Thanks."

They jumped onto the roofs and picked their ways back to Lloyd and the Serpentine. Kai jumped down first and was immediately targeted by two snakes.

"You wanna play?" Kai asked, turning around, "How 'bout a little Spinjitzu? Ninjaaaaa-Go!"

He spun into a mini-tornado of red flames and moved towards the snakes. He suddenly whirled out of control and smacked into a wall, and fell down on the ground.

"Okay, we're really out of shape," Jay said from the roofs.

"Ya think?!" Aniki snapped.

Kai quickly stood up and thrust up his arms, whacking two Serpentine in the nose.

Aniki was kicking off snakes left and right. Then something happened: she clenched her right hand into a fist, about to hit an oncoming snake, but instead of getting a shiner, it raised its hands to its throat, unable to breathe. The girl's face gave an expression of horror when she realized what was going on; she was choking it _without even touching it_. Letting go of her "grip," the snake shook its head, looked at her for a moment, and ran off screaming and waving its hands in the air. The girl ninja felt sick to her stomach.

"Hah!" Lloyd yelled over his shoulder, "Consider this a warning, ninja! Muh-whaaa-ha-ha!"

Aniki just shook her head and followed the troublemaker as Zane threw down his shurikens. Ice formed around the shurikens and Lloyd's wheelbarrow of candy bumped into them, tipping the wheelbarrow over.

Lloyd fell on top of it, crying, "My candy!"

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Zane yelled. He spun into a tornado of ice and sped down the roof and beside the boy.

"Sensei was right," the white ninja said, "'Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today.' We should've dealt with you the first time around."

"Retreat!" Lloyd shouted as he struggled up.

"Retreat!" The snake general repeated.

The Serpentine began to run out of the village. Cole jumped down from the roof and hit the general in the face with his feet. The snake dropped his staff and it landed in the snow.

"Go ahead," Cole said as the snake bent down to pick it up, "Give me a reason."

The general slithered away quickly. His second in command, however, had other plans.

"Look into my eyessss," he said; making Cole look up, "I control you."

"You... control… me," Cole mumbled.

He was lured into a snake's trap, and his eyes turned scarlet.

He then snapped out of the trance when Nya shouted, "Cole!"

She ran to the snake, then jumped up and kicked him in his face. Cole and the snake walked away in opposite directions.

"You have the anti-venom!" Nya cried.

Cole shook his head and looked at the staff.

"By golly, you're right!"

"Quick! The fountain!"

"Good idea!"

Cole ran to the fountain in the center of the village and stuck the staff in the water. Pale blue mist poured out of the water and flowed over the villagers, causing them to come back to reality. Kai walked to Sensei Wu, who had arrived in the confusion.

"We're sorry, Sensei," He said, "If we'd dealt with Lloyd before he became a problem, none of this would've been necessary."

"Even lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned," the sensei replied, then, thinking aloud, "A great evil has been released. I fear troubling times will come. This is only the beginning."

"Then, we will train," Zane said, as he and the other three walked over, "And we will be ready for the Serpentine."

"It may not be Lord Garmadon," Cole said, "but that doesn't mean we won't bring our A-game."

"Help us train. Help us realize our potential," Kai placed a hand on Sensei Wu's arm.

"Yeah," Jay said, "Teach us the secrets behind the weapons of Spinjitzu."

"Please," Aniki added.

"There is much to teach," he said as they walked back to the dragons, "We must go back to the monastery."

Nya sighed, "When am I gonna get my own dragon?"

"Patience, Nya. Your time will come."

(Line break)

"Candy," Lloyd moaned. "I need… candy!"

"The boy set ussss free," Slithraa said looking at the lad.

"He is a child!" Skales insisted, "He is not one of us!"

Slithraa pushed Skales away in anger.

"I may not have the sssstaff, but I am sssstill your general! Sssstand down!"

Skales walked away and was met by Mezmo.

"You coward," Mezmo hissed, "We all know he issss under Lloyd'ssss sssspell. You are second-in-command and still you do _nothing_?"

"Now was not the time," Skales explained, "I still hold the key to destroy the ninja. And when I do that, everyone will ssssee it is I who should be in control!"

He began laughing as he focused through the still-hypnotized black-ninja's eyes.

(Line break)

Later that night, the sensei entered the courtyard to see a familiar sight: Aniki sitting on the ground, hunched over; something he had seen before whenever he caught her "dream-doodling." This often happened when she was younger; at these times, she would draw and color sketches of scenes, both mystic and futuristic, all from her budding imagination. But as he approached the girl, the old man realized she was actually staring at her hands in a terrified state, as if they were mutating.

"Aniki, what's wrong?" he asked, she was never like this.

"You didn't see what I did," she tearfully explained, not looking at her adopted uncle, "I'm not even sure I really saw… what I did."

"Tell me."

"I was about to knock this one snake's socks off… but instead… when I gripped my hand… he started choking! I didn't even _touch_ the thing, and… and… I was still st… stra… strangling him."

Then, looking at her teacher, she asked, "What's wrong with me?"

"You've always had a special gift child," the elder answered, "a gift not fully understood and seen for the first time through you. But that does _not_ mean that there is anything wrong with you."

"But what if the next time I do it, it happens to one of the guys, or an innocent bystander, or you, or Lloyd, or…"

"Aniki, don't worry. We'll just have to find a way to train you into controlling and understanding this new power."

Kneeling down, the old man embraced his niece. Aniki was a good girl with strange abilities that, even with all the man's experience, research, and meditation could not explain. Perhaps she is the green ninja or perhaps her destiny was greater… greater than anyone could ever imagine.

(Line break)

**So, is she the green ninja? Or something else? Wait, what am I asking you people for? I'm writing this thing so of course I know the answer.**


	6. Home

Sensei was in his room mediating in front of his spirit smoke, listening to Kai, Aniki, Cole, and Jay play their video game again. These ninja never learn.

"My turn! Ah, my turn!"

"Okay, you want a little more? Take this!"

"Yeah, how 'bout a little of this!"

"YAH!"

"Monkey-bar to the head!"

"Ninja roll!"

"Dragon punch!"

"Hyah!"

Sensei got up, put a flute away, and went to the video game room, only to see the ninja weren't there. When he entered to the courtyard, the man was surprised to see every ninja training. Jay was fending off arrows with his nun-chucks, Cole was dodging and hitting dummies, Aniki was testing her flexibility, Kai was practicing his Spinjitzu, and Zane? Well… Zane was just meditating.

But then Zane got up and jumped around everywhere. Aniki got hit with the flat of an axe blade when Zane flew in, an arrow hits Jay's nun-chucks, Zane grabs Cole's scythe and breaks a plank dummy, then he froze everything with Spinjitzu which made Kai lose his balance and fall on the ice. All of the ninjas walked toward each other.

"This roof isn't big enough for the four of us," Kai grumbled.

"Correction," Cole said, "This roof isn't big enough for him."

"It's like he's in his own world," Jay frowned, then directing his next words at Zane, yelled, "I bet he can't even hear us!"

"Seriously, what is up with that guy?" Aniki complained.

Sensei Wu walked over to the three boys and one girl while Zane began throwing his shurikens around.

"Sensei, Zane's..." Kai paused to find the right words, "...weird."

"What is weird?" Sensei Wu asked, "Someone who is different or someone who is different than you?"

"No, Sensei," Cole explained, "He's 'weird, weird'."

* * *

_Flashback: _

**_Cole_**

_Cole was in the bathroom, reading a newspaper while on the toilet. Then, Zane walked in and began combing his hair._

_"Do you mind?" Cole yelled._

* * *

**_Jay_**

_Jay, Nya, and Zane were watching a romantic movie. At the sad part, Jay and Nya were crying and sniffling, Zane, however, was flat-out laughing. His friends turned to him with confused expressions._

* * *

**_Kai_**

_Early in the morning, Kai, still in his PJs, yawned and stretched while heading to the fridge. He opened the fridge door, only to find it mostly empty, with a note stuck to the back._

_'I'm sorry,' it read in Zane's handwriting, 'I consumed the last of the deli meat...cheese?'_

* * *

**_Aniki_**

_Aniki was admiring a new drawing of hers. Zane walked over and looked at the piece only to give a confused groan._

"_What," the girl asked._

"_I don't get what the piece is about," Zane explained, "It's too random."_

"_It's art stupid, there's nothing to get. It can be as random as I want it."_

"_But that's silly."_

_Aniki groaned._

* * *

The elder and ninjas watched as Zane bowed to a plank dummy, only for it to whack him on the head, which the former instantly rubbed.

"We like the guy," Kai assured their mentor, "He's really smart... he's just... a little off sometimes."

"Zane is a brother. And brothers are often different," their master said, then, thinking about his own sibling, added, "I should know."

* * *

Outside the monastery, a mailman was walking tiredly up the mountain it was on. He wiped the sweat off his brow and continued walking. When he reached the top, he took off his bag and rang the doorbell, which produced a gonging sound, causing the mailman to jump back in fear.

"Mail!" Kai, Jay, Aniki, and Cole shouted.

They answered the door and the man gave them their mail.

"Hah... let's see," he said, "A letter from Jay's parents... Kai has a fan letter... Aniki's _Drawing 4 U _magazine is here… Oh! Something from Cole's father..."

"What, no package?" Cole said, "I'm expecting something from _Creatures, Beasts, and Beyond_!"

"No, nothing from... ah... Ah-hah! Here it is!"

"Ha! Rocky's gonna love this!"

Jay and Kai opened their letters while Aniki read her magazine. Jay looked up from the paper and noticed Zane walking around, a bit somber.

"Hey, Zane," he asked, "how come you never hear anything from your parents?"

"I don't remember my parents," Zane sadly explained, "I've been an orphan all of my life."

Kai and Jay exchanged looks while Aniki frowned.

"You mean you never had a home?" Kai asked.

Zane shook his head sadly.

"The monastery is your home now," Sensei Wu told him.

"And you got us," Aniki added, "We're family, sorta."

Zane just turned around and walked away and the others watched him leave.

* * *

At the dragon stables, Cole was opening his package.

"Liver and toads, Rocky," Cole charmed, taking a dead toad out of the box, "Your favorite!"

He threw the animal to the panting dragon, which gleefully snapped it up and ate it in a few short seconds. Unfortunately for the two of them and the others, Cole still had not realized that he was hypnotized and that the snake responsible for this was watch everything through the black ninja's eyes.

* * *

In the Forest of Tranquility, all the Hypnobrai were building a treehouse while Skales and a scout named Rattla chat at the top.

"I can't believe you hypnotizzzzed one of the ninja!" Rattla said excitedly, "Does the general know?"

"Of course not!" Skales said impatiently, "He's been put under the control of Lloyd! And I plan to use it for my besssst interesssst."

Rattla looked behind Skales and walked away. Skales turned to see Slithraa.

"Everyone works while you do sssslack!" Slithraa hissed, "As my second-in-command, I expect _more_ from you, SSSSkales!"

"Yessss, General!" Skales bowed.

Slithraa turned around and began to slither away, but Skales spoke up.

"General, you know I am most loyal, but I must question thissss childish agenda! The ninja have sssstolen our staff, yet you insssstruct your army to build this _playhousssse for Lloyd_? Snakes don't belong in treessss."

"You know better than to question my judgment, SSSSkales!" Slithraa threatened, "I'll pretend you didn't ask!"

"Hey!"

The two Hypnobrai looked down. Lloyd was standing on one of the lower platforms, waving.

"If we plan to rule Ninjago from here, this elevator needs to have a trap door!" Lloyd yelled, "_I want more booby traps!"_

"As you wish, young Garmadon!" Slithraa bowed and gestured for Skales to start working on it.

"As you wish... General," Skales growled as he bowed and walked away.

* * *

"Oh, I love it when it's Zane's night to cook!" Jay smiled.

"Hey, I didn't hear any complaints about my duck chowder last night!" Cole said.

"That's because it glued our mouths shut," Kai pointed out.

"You really thought Jay was speechless all throughout dinner?" Aniki smirked.

"Yeah," Jay crossed his arms, "Please don't make that again."

"Dinner is served."

Zane set down their dinner and looked around the table. He was wearing a pink, flowered apron. Everyone's faces changed expressions rapidly before they burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Zane asked.

"Zane!" Nya laughed, "You're wearing a... Well, even I wouldn't wear that!

Zane walked to another end of the table and asked, "You laugh because I take steps to ensure I am clean after cooking?"

"No," Kai assured him, "We laughed because you came out wearing that ridiculous outfit!"

"Dude," Aniki laughed, "that's something a _six-year-old_ _girl _wears for her imaginary tea-parties!"

"I guess we don't share the same sense of humor," Zane observed.

"You have no sense of humor to share _at all_ pal," Aniki snorted.

"Well, how 'bout this?" Cole picked up a plate from the table and mashed it in Kai's face.

Everyone except Zane and Kai started laughing again and Sensei Wu got up from his seat and walked to Cole and Kai.

"How could you not find that funny?" Cole asked as his teacher set a bowl upside-down on his black hair.

"Waah!" Cole's face grew shocked.

The bowl's contents dripped down his face and his master laughed.

"Now you are brothers," Sensei Wu laughed as he put his hands on Zane's and Cole's shoulders and walked back to his seat.

Laughter rang around the table once again. The others began throwing food around the table while Zane watched in confusion, getting food suck to his apron and shirt.

* * *

Zane went outside to throw away the garbage, stripping off his apron and placing it into the can as well. He looked up at the stars, thinking about many things, mostly why he felt he was alone. Then, a falcon's cry broke his thoughts. He turned to a tree near him; the falcon sitting on one of the branches, looking directly at him. Zane tilted his head, and the falcon copied him. Zane shook his head, unsure if it had really done so. He looked back at the bird, only to see it shake its head as well.

He gasped at the bird, then smiled, flapped his arms and stepped up and down. It once again followed his movements exactly. Zane watched it for a moment before it hopped along the branch and took off. Zane looked inside the monastery for a second then followed the falcon and began to run down the mountain.

* * *

The bird led Zane through a forest, stopping now and then to make sure he was following. Zane paused for a moment, then kept running, only to stop again and gasp. A brightly lit treehouse building was in the process of being built. And the Serpentine were working on it.

"If I see one girl except for Aniki in here," Lloyd warned from his perch atop a board of wood, "I'm gonna go ballistic."

Then, the falcon cried again and Zane looked up. It motioned for him to go back and tell his friends.

"Thank you, my mysterious friend," Zane said to it.

* * *

The next day, Zane led Cole, Jay, Aniki, and Kai through the forest, taking them to the large tree house. Zane paused and looked around.

"Where are we going again?" Aniki asked skeptically.

"I don't think Zane even knows where he's going," Kai responded as they caught up with the white ninja.

"So, tell us again how you stumbled upon Lloyd's secret headquarters?" Kai asked Zane.

"I followed a bird," he answered.

"A bird? Your 'mysterious informant' is a bird?" Aniki glared, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," was the answer Zane gave.

"Why did you follow a bird?" Jay looked confused.

"Because it danced," was the reply.

"Oh. Okay. Was it a cuckoo bird?" Jay mocked.

Cole, Jay, Aniki, and Kai started laughing while Zane looked at them, confused.

"Of course not, everyone knows cuckoo birds are not indigenous to these forests."

"Sarcasm Zane," Aniki interjected.

Zane began running again. The others shrugged and followed him, until they reached the clearing where the Serpentine were.

They heard Lloyd shout, "No, bigger! Come on, we don't have all day! It's not time for a lunch break!"

"Holy cannoli," Cole exclaimed, "Frosty was right!"

"We can't let that brat and those snakes get a foothold on Ninjago," Kai said.

"Right, we gotta destroy that thing before it becomes operational," Aniki supported.

"Are you sure? It such a cool looking treehouse. It's got a ropes course, ooh! A tree swing..." Jay babbled.

"Hey! Remember whose side you're on!" Cole yelled, then turning to the others asked, "Alright guys, what do we do?"

"It looks like the entire place is being supported by those four trees," Kai observed, pointed to four large trees on different sides of the tree house, "Once those ropes are severed, the whole place is gonna fall like a house of cards."

"But why would one make a house of cards?" Zane asked, "Such construction would be careless."

"Oh brother," Kai sighed.

"It's just an expression," Aniki snapped.

"Travel in shadows team," Cole said.

He flipped towards the tree house and the others followed suit.

* * *

Kai flipped out from behind a tree, then took out his sword and sliced a rope, flinging himself onto the tree house.

* * *

Cole grabbed onto the wood at the bottom of an elevator and clung to it as two Serpentine were raised up to the tree house, one hitting the other.

* * *

Aniki walked in pretty much in plain sight, using her own mind powers to confuse and deceive the snakes.

* * *

Jay and Zane were climbing up a tree. Jay landed on a branch and almost lost his balance, but Zane grabbed his wrist and hauled him up.

* * *

All five ninjas peered through the walls as Lloyd walked around a corner.

"It's almost finished," Lloyd laughed, "Soon, my fortress will be complete."

Aniki tried to suppress a laugh.

"You!" He ordered one of the Serpentine, causing it to turned, "Hold up that sign!"

It complied, holding up a sign that said:

**_No_**

**_Girls_**

**_Ninja_**

Lloyd then pulled a lever. The snake laughed until the floor under him gave way and it fell to the ground below, screaming the way down.

"Booby trap!" Lloyd yelled down the hole in the floor, watching as it bumped into the wooden beams.

* * *

The ninjas jumped up through the wooden beams and boards and leaped through the doorway at the top of the tree house. Kai climbed to the very top while Cole, Jay, Aniki, and Zane ran along the three ropes connecting the tree house to the supporting trees.

"Ninjaaaaa-Goooo!" Jay spun into his tornado of blue lightning and severed the first rope.

"Ninjaaaaa-Goooo!" Zane whirled into his ice tornado and sliced the second rope.

"Yah! Ninjaaaaa-Goooo!" Aniki twisted into her energy tornado and split the thrid rope.

* * *

The tree house began to fall apart. Boards and ropes crumbled and snapped. Debris fell everywhere. A few stories down, Lloyd looked up and spotted Kai through the wooden beams of the higher levels.

"I said no ninja!" Lloyd roared, "Attack!"

"Everyone!" Skales yelled, "Retreat!"

* * *

"Cole!" Aniki shouted, "Wait 'til we're off the tree house! Then cut the line!

Cole nodded and Skales looked up at the sound of Aniki's voice. He recognized Cole as the ninja he had hypnotized at Jamonacai Village.

"You," he cried, capturing Cole's attention, "will obey my every command!"

Cole's eyes turned a deep shade of red.

He bowed to Skales and said, "I will obey your every command."

"Where's Cole?" Jay asked frantically as he and Zane jumped to the tree house roof.

"Oh, this whole place is coming down!" Kai yelled.

"Hyah!"

With a flourish of his scythe, Cole leaped down from his perch on the tree and landed on the roof.

"No one goes anywhere unless they deal with me!" he yelled.

He advanced threateningly on Kai, Jay, Aniki, and Zane who stepped back.

"It's the Serpentine!" Aniki realized fearfully, "He's been hypnotized!"

"Yeah, well, he'd better snap out of it quick!" Jay yelled, "Because this whole place looks like it's about to go down!"

* * *

"Don't go!" Lloyd begged to Skales and the other snakes, "We have to protect my tree house fortress! And Aniki's up there! We gotta save her!"

"Your tree housssse? The ninja girl?" Skales hissed, "It'ssss about we did... thissss!"

"What?" Lloyd only had time to say before Skales pulled a lever and the floor under Lloyd disappeared, forcing the boy to fall into a cage a few yards under him.

He heard the stinging ring of Serpentine laughter in his ears as he fell.

* * *

Lloyd was in good hands compared to the ninja. Cole looked like he was in for the kill.

"Okay, now, come on," Jay said nervously, "Friends don't hit friends."

Cole promptly thrust his leg up, kicking Jay in the face.

"There goes that theory," Aniki retorted.

"Ow! Oooh, okay, okay, I'm going to ignore both of those."

Cole then began jumping around the tiny platform, swinging his scythe around. He yelled and struck a board next to Kai's feet, knocking the wooden plank off.

"What are we supposed to do?" Kai asked, dodging Cole's hits, "If I use my sword, this place'll go up in flames faster than a tinderbox!"

"Isn't the anti-venom in the staff?" Zane queried.

"Yeah, but we left it back home!" screamed Aniki.

Cole suddenly got in a blow to her stomach, knocking her back. She landed on the pole-like corner of the roof, slid down it, and lay there for a moment, dazed. Then, the wood broke and she fell. Zane lunged out and grabbed her by the feet.

He swung her back up, saying, "Jay, use your lightning! Try to shock him out of his trance!"

Jay obeyed and took out his nun chucks. He began swinging them around.

"Oh, sorry, Cole! This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me!"

He sent a concentrated ball of electricity at Cole, who fell back and let go of hid scythe. The four hesitated as Cole struggled to get back up. Then, the black ninja opened and his eyes. They were just as red as before. Cole got up and rapidly ran to Jay. He picked him up by his shirt and threw him over the edge.

Three cries of "Jaaaay!" were heard. Jay, however, grabbed onto a dangling rope and swung on it. He landed on the outside of the broken tree house.

He then declared, "Okay, that is a serious safety hazard!"

Cole turned sharply and ran back up the last rope holding up the tree house. He raised his scythe, about to swing.

"No, Cole, don't!"

"No! No, Cole, no!"

"Cole! No!

Suddenly, the sweet music of a flute reached all of their ears. Cole hesitated for a moment, hearing the flute. He closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes again, they were back to their normal black.

"Wha...? Where am I? What are we doing?"

"We're getting' outta here," Nya shouted down, "'Cause this whole place is coming down!"

With that, Cole leaped from his ledge and landed right behind her. Aniki, Jay, Kai, and Zane followed suit. The tree house crumbled as soon as her feet left the wood. She landed in the back and wrapped her arms around whoever was in front of her. Aniki looked back and saw Lloyd in a cage, being carried by a few of the snakes. Looked like the kid wasn't in charge anymore, which was both a good and bad thing.

"That flute!" Jay remarked,"It cancels their powers!"

"Its as old as the Serpentine themselves! But we must hurry! The monastery is unguarded!" Sensei said, which made Flame flap his wings harder and flew faster to their home.

* * *

They got back to the monastery, and it was in flames. Tongues of fire licked at the aged wood of the once-grand building, destroying it to ash.

"We're too late!" Kai shouted, "Those snakes!"

Below them, the four dragons that had been left behind roared and struggled in their stables.

Cole spotted his dragon, "Rocky!"

Flame touched down and everyone quickly got off. Cole hurried to his dragon. He pushed down on a lever and released all of them.

Kai looked up at the exposed inner wood of the monastery and pulled down his hood.

"Our home," he said.

"Shard!" Zane called to his dragon, "Put this out!"

Shard flew around the blazing structure and breathed ice and snow onto the flames.

"The training equipment," Zane murmured when Shard had completed his task, "Gone."

"Our video games," Jay cried hysterically, "Gone!"

"They stole back their staff," the elder observed, tinges of anger in his voice.

"What do we do now?" Cole narrowed his eyes.

Rocky put his head closer to the ground and rubbed his muzzle against Cole's cheek. The black ninja sadly stroked Rocky's nose. Aniki just stared around in infuriated awe. Kai picked up a badly burnt chunk of brick and easily crushed it.

"If you hadn't followed that silly bird, none of this would've happened!" he accused Zane.

"Kai," Sensei Wu warned.

"No!" Jay stomped up to Zane. "Sensei, he's right! Because of you, my high score's been deleted!"

"This is a teaching moment," Zane glanced down, "We must learn from this."

"_A teaching moment_?" Cole echoed, then putting his face directly in front of Zane's and shouted, "What's wrong with you? Don't you get it? Everything is gone!"

"Dude, get this through your thick head," Aniki added, "WE LOST EVERYTHING AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"ENOUGH!" Sensei Wu ordered.

Everyone, including Nya, turned to him, "We are all at fault. Zane is your brother. Apologize at once."

Kai, Cole, Aniki, and Jay lowered their heads in shame. They turned around.

"I'm sorry, Zane," Kai mumbled, "I..."

He broke off. Zane wasn't there. Everyone turned to the sky. Instead, he was flying away on Shard.

* * *

The Hypnobrai led Lloyd, who now had a rope tied around one of his wrists, down an icy corridor.

"Do something, General," Lloyd whispered to Slithraa. "You-You're still under my command, right?"

Slithraa looked at the boy for a moment, under the boy's command or not, he was still the Hypnobrai's leader.

"Enough!" He cried, then turning his attention to Skales, ordered, "I am the general! You will return my staff at once!"

Skales looked at the staff and hissed, "No."

Muttering and mumbling broke out among the Hypnobrai.

"You dare challenge my command?" Slithraa demanded.

"Slitherpit... Slitherpit..." The Hypnobrai began chanting, "Slitherpit! Slitherpit!"

Skales smiled and nodded, "I guess we'll have to fight for it, in... the Slitherpit!"

Almost everyone began cheering. Lloyd just frowned.

* * *

Mezmo took the staff and brought it to the ledge where he stood.

"Winner gets the staff and leads the tribe. You know the rules, there are none, but in the Slither Pit, what I say goes!" Mezmo annouced, the two nodded. He then shouted, "Alright, _FIGHT_!"

The fight began. Skales and Slithara engaged in hand to hand combat.

"TWO WEAPONS," Mezmo announced.

He pulled a lever and ice weapons were lowered into the arena. The general took a sword and shield, Skales took a staff and spear. Slithra threw his weapon to Skales, who quickly dodged it and the weapon struck the wall and caused some ice stalactites to fall and break on Slithra's shield.

Lloyd, who was now tied to a stalagmite, sighed and sat down. He then looked to his side and noticed a scroll of paper sticking out. He stood and reached out for it, only coming a few inches short.

"SIDE-WINDER," Mezmo announced again, this time making the platform tilt as the two moved.

Lloyd glanced at the fight, in which Skales seemed to be winning, and tried again, still coming up short. He reached and stretched his arm. Just when he thought he'd never be able to get it, his fingers brushed up against the paper, and he grabbed it, tucking it into his back pocket.

"Go, General, go!" He cupped his untied hand around his mouth and shouted encouragement.

Slithraa's tail began rattling and red waves pulsed from his eyes. Skales looked taken aback. He spun around and kicked Slithraa in the face. He then threw a series of blows at the general, only to have them blocked. Suddenly, his entire body began to sway. He wriggled and moved. And he lunged, sharply kicked Slithraa in the chest, and bounced back. The general collapsed onto the ice floor.

"He used fang-kwon-do!" One of the crowd said in awe.

"Get up!" Lloyd yelled, "Get up!"

The general raised his head, then lowered it again.

"We have a winner!"

The judge handed Skales back the staff, and the snake's body began to change. Slithraa's did the same. Skales' legs disappeared and were replaced with a tail, while Slithraa did the complete opposite.

Cheers of "Skales!" rang around the room.

"You will be loyal to me, now!" Skales said to Slithraa.

"I... will do as you command, Slithraa said reluctantly.

That made the boy feel very dejected.

"You!" Skales turned to Lloyd, "Leave and never return!"

That made Lloyd feel worse.

* * *

The remaining ninja, Nya, and Sensei Wu were now on a nearby mountain. Wisp, Rocky, Blast, and Flame wear huddled together only feet away. The group of six was all holding sticks with burning food on them over a fire.

"Wh-what are we eating again?" Kai asked.

"Mudnewt," Aniki said thickly.

"Not bad for… something that lives underground," Cole muttered.

"Wha...!" Jay threw his stick down and spat a mouthful of mudnewt bone into his hand, tossed the bone into a can, and yelled, "Yeah! New high sc-score!"

Throwing her own stick into the fire, Aniki wrapped her arms around her legs and muttered, "The monastery was my home, it was were my adpoted family took me in and where I found my powers. There were a lot of precious memories in that building."

"Remember," the mentor reminded everyone, "We must be thankful for what we have."

"What do we have?" Cole asked, "Our home is gone."

"Y'know," Kai spoke up, "I don't miss our home. What I really miss is Zane."

"Yeah," Jay sighed, "I miss Zane!"

"He was… a nice guy," Aniki murmured.

"Yeah, he was for sure," Cole agreed.

"Zane?" Nya was the one to speak this time.

"Yeah!" Jay shouted, "Zane! Y'know, white ninja? The smart, strange one?"

"No!" Nya pointed to behind them, "Zane!"

Everyone turned and saw that Zane was indeed walking towards the group.

"Zane!" The ninjas cried in unison.

The group gathered in a semicircle around him.

"We're so sorry for everything we said," Aniki said, "We didn't mean a think back there!"

Jay added, "Yeah, we're a team, and that means we're all responsible!"

"You don't need to apologize to me," Zane smiled.

"But, what about all those awful things we said?" Kai asked, "Isn't that why you left?"

"Of course not. I saw the falcon again, and I followed him."

"That's our Zane," Cole said.

Everyone, including Aniki, hugged the white ninja. Then, they released him.

Nya said, "We're happy to have you back."

"Why? Is it my turn to make dinner?"

They laughed; Zane was still the same Zane.

"Yes, Zane," Sensei Wu smiled gratefully, "We would love for you to make dinner."

"But I already made it," Zane turned around, "Come, I want to show you what I have found. I think you will all be pleased."

* * *

They all walked a ways from where they were camping.

"I can't explain it," Zane said, stopping and turning to face the team, "But, I feel a strange connection with the falcon. I think he's trying to help show us the path we need to take."

Then, he led them around a corner. Sitting on the sand just a hundred or two yards away was a large ship, with a wooden dragon head on the front.

"Our new home," he declared.

His friends gasped at the magnificent sight.

"It's beautiful," Aniki gazed.

"Do I smell pie?" Jay asked eagerly.

"Cobblerberry," Zane informed him, "Oh, and I made myrtleberry. And apple!"

Jay sniffed deeply and sighed, shedding a tear. Then, he, Kai, Cole, Aniki, and Nya ran to the ship, yelling and shouting happily. Zane and Sensei Wu stayed behind.

"I am proud of you, Zane," the old man said, "One day, I promise, we will find your family."

"But... I've already found them, Aniki was right, they are a family."

"I feel there's more to you than meets the eye. There's something special about you, Zane."

"Sensei, will I become the Green Ninja?"

"It's too early to tell. But, if it's in your path, you'll know. Come, now, it would be a shame to let them eat all that pie."

And Sensei Wu and Zane began walking to the ship.

* * *

Laughter filled the dining room. All of the team were throwing food around and having a good time. Unknown to any of the seven at the table, Lloyd was watching them, a map clutched in his hand and a hurt look on his face. He growled, turned around, and began to walk away.


	7. Snakebit

The next morning, the ninja were enjoying their rest as they slumbered in their new beds of their new home; that is, until _somebody_ forgot that teenagers thrive on sleep.

_**Gong! Gong! Gong! **_

"Evil doesn't sleep and neither should you!" their mentor announced, bang a gong he had found on the ship.

The five others in the room groaned and pulled their blankets or pillows over their heads.

"If you want to reach your full potential, you must treat each day as an opportunity!" Sensei Wu told them as he finished up his gonging.

"Okay, okay, we're up," Kai said as he slid out of his bed and hopped to the floor, like the other three boys.

Aniki, however, just burrowed her face into the pillow and refused to get up.

"Aww, five more minutes?" Aniki begged.

She then turned on her side, but the bed posts snapped and her bed fell apart.

"I'm okay!" she declared and jumped up at once.

Kai walked to the window on the other side of the room and asked their mentor, "If you want us to reach our full potential, shouldn't we get a full night of rest?"

He pulled on the cord for the window blinds but they just fell to the floor.

Cole stretched and cracked his back, moaning, "You call that rest? I think my back has more lumps than the mattress!"

Jay walked to the sink and took out his toothbrush.

"We were up so late, talking about how cool it is to have a new headquarters, I guess we lost track of time," He was saying as he turned on the faucet.

Sand leaked out, instead of water, on the toothpaste, but Jay was too busy talking to notice.

"Ever since the Serpentine burned down the monastery, I'm just glad we have a roof over our heads..."

He started to brush his teeth, but tasted the sand and immediately spat it out.

"Uhg, and on top of that," Kai added, "When we _did_ go to sleep, Aniki's snoring kept waking us up."

"I don't _snore_!" Aniki shot back.

"Dude," Jay interjected, "You sounded like a hibernating bear with a sinus congestion!"

"Yeah well, you guys also spent a good half-hour interrogating me about my life," Aniki reminded them, the memory fresh in her mind.

(Line break)

_Flashback_

_"Okay look," Cole said from his bed, "It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that, well, there's a whole lotta things we wanna know but you need to tell us now."_

_Aniki groaned and sat up, propping up her head pillow behind her, "You know what? Fine, go ahead; ask away, I've got nothing to hide."_

_"How did Sensei and Garmadon find you?" Kai demanded._

_"The latter of the two found me in the middle of nowhere, during the winter, and for some reason decided to take me in."_

_"What is your last name?" Zane asked._

_"Honestly, I have no idea what my _first_ name is. I got separated from my real family a long time ago."_

_"Separated?!" Jay's jaw dropped, and then he decided to change the subject a bit, "How long have you been living in the monastery?"_

_"Since I was very little, three, I think."_

_"Do you have _any _memory of your real family?" Cole questioned._

_"I remember my mother a bit, but all I really have of them is this," She answered, showing a brown necklace she was wearing, "which was around my neck."_

"_What is it?" Kai asked._

"_I don't know, but I had it forever."_

_"Okay, ah, maybe we'll ask more 'bout you later," Jay decided, seeing the sad look she had._

_Aniki turned over and tried to sleep._

(Line break)

"Yeah, sorry if we upset you," Cole responded.

Zane, who was more awake than the others, turned to Sensei Wu and asked, "What is our lesson today, Sensei: Mastering the strike of the scorpion? Or perhaps the great… Oh!"

He crashed through the floor, sending up wood splinters and dust, making him cough. The other four teenagers gathered in behind him.

"I think today's lesson will be... chores," the elder said.

"_**Chores!?**_" The five cried in unison.

"Do we _look_ like maids to you?" Aniki sarcastically asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Ninja fight, Sensei," Cole protested, "They do not clean."

"In order to respect ourselves, we must respect our new home, and where we are from. And this place is a long way from becoming a ninja headquarters. I expect things to be spotless when I return," Sensei Wu turned to leave, but turned when he was in the doorway, added, "And put your backs into it."

_**Gong!**_

Cole helped Zane out of the hole in the floor.

"Ugh, this place is gonna take forever to clean and fix up," Kai groaned.

"Unless we put more than our backs into it," Jay suggested, a mischievous smile on his face, "Huh?"

All the ninjas smiled in realization.

(Line break)

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!"

Cole, now in uniform, began to whip around the room, picking everything up as he passed.

He spun out of the room and off the ship, and deposited the junk with a sign labeled: _**Garage Sale**_.

(Line break)

Kai kicked open a door and he and Zane jumped in. The two looked around, and then Zane took out his shurikens and threw them to the wall farthest from them. The shurikens stuck in the wood and ice formed around them, freezing the room in seconds. Kai pulled his sword from his back. The gold caught on fire and Kai touched the sword to the icy walls. The frost melted instantly.

The two ninjas yelled, "Ninjaaaaa-Go!" and spun around the room, melting the ice and cleaning up the room.

(Line break)

Jay walked up to a large sheet covering a wall of machinery. Cole and Kai sat behind him, working to fix a smaller machine. The blue ninja ripped off the sheet, then took his nun-chucks out and spun them around. He struck the giant machine with his nun-chucks, and it came to life. Lights turned on in every room. The two behind Jay noticed this and high fived each other, apparently thinking they had turned the electricity on.

(Line break)

Out on the deck, Zane, Kai, and Cole were struggling to open the sails. Aniki stood behind them, watching their progress.

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" she yelled and spun into a tornado of pure energy and blew the all the dust away.

(Line break)

Sensei Wu and Nya walked into the room that had the most noise coming from behind it. Five figures were in the room, four playing a video game and the last laying on her back.

"What took ya so long?" Kai turned away from the screen with a grin.

"Wow!" Nya marveled, "This place looks... amazing! You guys did all this?"

"Hey, this is our home," Aniki remarked, "We gotta respect it."

"And ninja don't just fight, Nya," Cole said, "We clean!"

"You have exceeded my expectations," Sensei Wu complimented, "But, can you keep it?"

Nya walked to one of the windows and looked out. A broken-looking car was driving its way towards the ship.

"It looks like we're about to have some visitors," she observed, "And loud ones at that!"

Jay turned to her with a frown on his face.

"Oh, it's my parents!" he moaned, then warned, "Please, if they start yapping, just don't get 'em going, okay, they don't know when to quit! And if you start talking, then they'll start talking, and suddenly, half the day is gone before you know it, and it's not even…"

"We get it!" Aniki interrupted, "They talk a lot!"

"Cherry doesn't fall far from its blossom..." Kai muttered.

(Line break)

Outside, the car stopped in front of the ship, bumping into the junk pile Cole had put outside.

The driver said to the woman sitting next to him, "Take a note, Edna: either better brakes or a better bumper."

He looked to the front of the car and took off his cap and goggles.

"Oh! Would ya look at all this great stuff!" the man exclaimed, "They can't just get rid of it! Heh, we should've brought the trailer, Edna!"

Edna took off her cap as well and scolded him, "This ain't a flea market, Ed! We're here for Jay!"

Ed closed his eyes and put a hand to his ear asking, "What was that? Didja take the note?"

"I'm writing it down, Ed."

"Mom! Dad!" The two turned to the ship and saw a teenager dressed in blue was walking down a ramp on the side of it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, hoping they didn't notice his _please don't embarrass me_ tone.

"Oh look, it's my baby boy!" Edna cried as she stood up, joy on her face, "It's been so long since we heard from you!"

"Ma, I called you two days ago!" Jay frowned.

The six others on the ship gathered behind him.

"Well, it's not soon enough, son!" Ed said as he and Edna got out of the car and walked to the lad, "When are ya coming out to the junkyard? Ya say you're comin' and… and ya don't."

"_Dad_, do we have to talk about the junkyard in front of my friends?" Jay moaned, embarrassed.

"He hates when we tell people he was born in a junkyard," Edna smiled.

"_So what?"_ Aniki interjected, "I was born on a bus."

Everyone just stared at her with a blank expression on each of their faces. For once Jay, and maybe his parents, had absolutely nothing to say. Aniki turned her head left and right and rolled her eyes.

"My dad wasn't good with planning," she finally explained.

Edna then spotted Nya and forgot all about Aniki.

"Ooo, and who are you?" the woman asked, "You are so cute! You're just my son's type."

Jay groaned, "_Mom!_"

"It's a pleasure meeting you," Nya said, "I'm sure if you want, Jay can give you the tour. He worked very hard on it."

"We'd love a tour!" Ed and Edna cried in unison.

Jay put a hand to his head and sighed.

(Line break)

After showing the lower deck, the nine entered the bridge. Jay had added more since the last time anyone had been in there, which was only yesterday.

"And this is the bridge," Jay announced as the group of nine stepped in.

"This extends into a periscope," He hopped to something sticking out of the ceiling and pulled it down, "This tells us what's going on in Ninjago."

He spun it around and jumped to a machine sitting on a nearby table, "And this... if a Serpentine's not giving us the answers we want, and we're up late at night…"

"A ner whack navesty to read their minds?!" Edna asked in excitement

"An audio appliance to make 'em talk?" Ed asked.

"No," Jay's replied, "A cappuccino machine."

He put a cup under the spout and pushed it down, making coffee come out.

"Amazing, son!" Ed smiled, "We're so proud of you."

"Why don'tcha tell 'em about the button?" Cole walked to a button on a pedestal and pointed it out.

"Heh-heh-heh," Jay pushed Cole's hand away and whispered, "It's not ready, yet."

"Oh, what's the button?" Edna looked excited.

"He's working on a special defense system," Zane said.

"Something every ninja headquarters needs," Kai added.

"But knowing Jay," Aniki quipped with her eyes closed, "It'll end up becoming a self-destruct switch."

"NO!" Jay snapped; Aniki just chuckled.

"Really?" Ed walked to the pedestal, "What is it really? Oh, can I help?"

"No!" Jay pushed his father away gently, "It's okay! I don't need your help, Dad. Let's just leave it alone."

Then, he raised his wrist to his face and said, "Hey, look at the time!"

Aniki raised an eyebrow. He was going with _that_?

"You need to get back before its dark," Jay continued, pushing his folks towards the entrance of the bridge, "I told you, there's dangerous Serpentine out there."

Ed sighed, "I... suppose we could get back."

"Edna, it was a pleasure hearing about Jay's first potty time," Cole smirked and walked over to them, putting a hand on Jay's shoulder.

"Oh, if you thought that was good, wait till you hear the story about the time I caught him kissing his pillow!" Edna replied.

"_Do tell_," Aniki begged.

Edna reached up to pinch her son's cheek, but he pushed her hand away.

"_Snakes_, Ma!" he said, "Snakes!"

"Okay, we're going, we're going."

Ed and Edna walked out the entrance, the rest of the group following.

(Line break)

Ed started up the engine for the car.

"So, you promise to come to the junkyard and visit your mother and father?" Edna asked quickly.

"_Yes, I promise_," Jay exasperated, "But only if you leave. I don't want you to get hurt. It's getting dark. Ah... your headlights are working, right?"

Two intensely bright beams of light came from the front of the car, making everyone groan and cover their eyes.

"Eh heh," Ed leaned back against the leather upholstery. "Like 'em? I used a little extra juice!"

The lights flicked off and Ed pulled away saying, "Bye son! I couldn't be more proud!"

"And bring Nya, with you, will ya?" Edna turned and shouted to her son, "I can see why ya like her!"

"_Mom!_" Jay moaned.

"Now that they have left," Sensei Wu said, turning to Jay, "perhaps Jay can teach us the art of... kissing... pillows."

It was enough to make everyone but Jay laugh, Aniki even fell backwards, holding her stomach. He just groaned and walked onto the ship.

(Line break)

Ed and Edna sped along on the road. They were unusually quiet.

"I don't think he's coming, dear," Ed sighed, breaking the silence.

"Stop it, Ed," Edna smiled, "He's coming."

"Ah... he doesn't need us anymore. I just have to... remember that. Eh, write it down for me would ya?"

"Oh... lights, dear. It's getting dark."

"Right!" The road in front of the car grew bright, "Thanks, sugarplum."

(Line break)

Deep in the woods a few miles away, Lloyd trampled through grass, dead, leaves and rocks. He held an unrolled map in one hand, and a flashlight in the other.

He came to a cemetery-like place and, without a second thought, walked through the entrance.

"It's not scary," he mumbled to himself, "Um... maybe just a little... But, I like scary! Yeah... That's it... I'm the son of the Dark Lord! I love the dark!"

As Lloyd talked, he walked deeper into the cemetery, turning around occasionally.

"Why, I eat this stuff for breakfast!"

Something snapped. Lloyd looked up and yelled. He frantically shined his flashlight in front of him, and felt his heart calm down. It was just a tree, nothing else. He resumed his walking.

"I'm gonna make those Hypnobrai pay for betraying me. I have to find the Fangpyres. If there's anything a snake doesn't like, it's another snake."

He stopped in front of a giant tree in the center of the cemetery.

"Here! By the mutated tree! I found it!"

Lloyd knelt and swiped his hand through the mist, waving it away. The mist cleared, revealing a stone floor with many designs, the largest being a snake with two heads.

"Soon, the Serpentine will know who their master is!" he said, "And it will be I, Lloyd Garmadon!"

Thunder rumbled the entire place, and Lloyd cowered and yelled again. He opened his eyes and pushed a button on the floor. The double-headed snake design flew into the floor, and many red and white things popped out. Lloyd yelled for the third time and tried swatting them away. His flashlight went out. Hissing rang in the boy's ears and he turned around sharply. A two-headed Serpentine holding a golden staff like Skales' own hissed and shook his head.

"And who…" the first head said

"…May I say released us…" the second said.

"…From our captivity?" the first finished.

Lloyd cowered yet again and said, "Ll-Lloyd... I r-released you to make the Hypnobrai pay for betraying me."

He picked up the map and held it up so the snake could see it.

"Hypnobrai?" the second mused.

"Those hypnotizing deceivers," the first hissed.

"It will be…"

"…Our pleasure!"

"Oh... good!" Lloyd smiled, all traces of fear dissolving now that everything was going how he had hoped it would, "I'll lead the way. And after that, there's some ninja I want dealt with."

"Sounds like…" the first head murmured.

"You know…"

"…What you want!"

"But, the Hypnobrai are strong…"

"… And we are few in numbers."

"We need…"

"…Reinforcements!"

"What'd you have in mind?" Lloyd asked.

The snake heads hissed gleefully.

(Line break)

Ed and Edna pulled up to their junkyard, _Ed and Edna's Scrap 'n Junk,_ though the second "s" temporarily shorted out. Ed parked the car next to their trailer and turned on the lights.

"Home sweet home," Ed said as he and Edna pulled off their caps.

They climbed out of the car and Ed picked up a toolbox, walking to a large robot-like machine.

"And, back to the grind."

"Oh sweetie, you've been working on that thing day and night!"

"Well, ya never know when Jay may show up!"

"Oh, you're right. Ya never know!"

Edna walked into the trailer and Ed began working on the robot. Suddenly, Ed heard something whistle past him. He stopped welding the metal and pushed up his mask.

"Uh, Edna?" he called to his wife, "Was that you?"

Edna opened the trailer door and shouted, "What, Ed? Are you hearing things again?"

"You turned on the security alarm before ya left, didn'tcha, Hon?" Ed asked as he became worried.

Edna frowned and walked to the power grid. She flicked on a few buttons but nothing happened.

"Must be broken," she said.

And everything turned off. The entire junkyard went dark.

"Whoever's there," Ed warned and then cupped his hands around his mouth, "My son knows Spinjitzu!"

Something hissed behind one of the junk piles and a shadow appeared on the wall behind it.

Ed dropped his things and ran to Edna, who said, "What is it? Why are the lights out?"

"Call Jay, Hon!" Ed said frantically, "Someone's broken in!"

"How 'bout we wait 'til he calls you!" The couple turned and looked up.

A small boy dressed in black on the roof held up their phone, the twisted cord split. A double-headed, red snake holding a golden staff stood next to him.

"Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Ed!" Edna said worriedly.

"Be strong, Edna!" Ed said, "I won't let them hurt you!"

"If we plan…" the first head said.

"…To attack…" the second head continued.

"…The Hypnobrai…"

"…We must grow…"

"…Our army!"

"And, uh, how do we do that?" the boy asked the snake.

"Let's just say..."

The snake's four white eyes glittered evilly.

"…We Fangpyre bite off more…"

"…Than we can chew."

"Have at it boys!" The first head yelled.

With vicious hisses, more red and white snakes, this time with legs, poured out from behind the junk piles. They crawled onto various broken vehicles and sank their over-sized fangs into the metal. Green venom spread from the puncture marks, and with many blasts of venomous smoke, the vehicles became alive, with fangs, eyes, and tails.

"My creations," Ed gasped, "They're turning them into…"

"_An army_?" the first head finished.

The couple gasped and turned again.

"You are correct," the second head said, "But we can also…Turn people, too."

Ed and Edna held each other in fear as Fangtom drew his fangs nearer and nearer.

(Line break)

Back on the ship, Jay was working on the button.

"Sure got a lotta _junk _piling up," Kai said as he and Zane walked past Jay, "If _only_ there was a place where we could get rid of it."

"If you don't mind, I'm trying to focus," Jay snapped.

"Aw, come on Jay," Aniki encouraged, picking up a pencil from the table she was sitting on and started doodling on a sheet of paper, "You're lucky to _have_ your parents! You have _no idea_ what some people would give to..."

"Hello?" Jay said, getting annoyed, "Again, seriously, I'm tryin' to work here."

"Hi, Mom and Dad," Cole spoke behind Jay, holding a phone to his ear, "Of course, _I'd love_ to visit, what kind of son would_ I _be if I didn't want…"

Jay interrupted him, "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha. I know what you're trying to do."

He stood up and faced the four, "Okay, okay, look, I _might_ have promised to visit my parents..."

"_Might?_" Aniki glared.

"But, there's a lot of stuff on my plate!" Jay finished.

Nya suddenly opened the door to the bridge and walked through it.

Jay noticed her, then wiped the oil and grease off his face and said shyly, "H-hi, Nya."

"You gonna visit your parents today?" Nya asked as she stopped walking by the ninjas.

"Oh! Uh, s-sure am!" Jay stuttered, "Just about to leave!"

"Tell them I say hi!" Nya requested and left.

Aniki, Kai, Zane, and Cole gave Jay a look. Of course he would do_ anything _for Nya.

"What?" Jay spread his arms, "So my plate's not _that_ full."

Aniki snorted angrily, then walked up to him, and jabbed her finger in his chest.

"You don't even know what you got!" She said between her teeth.

(Line break)

Jay tugged on Wisp's chains, "Agh... uhn... come on, Wisp! It'll be a quick visit!"

But the dragon refused, looking a bit under the weather.

Jay noticed and ceased tugging, saying, "Just in and out, nothing more."

Then Sensei Wu walked up to Jay, holding a large thermometer in his hands.

"Hmm... It's just as I suspected. The dragons are molting," the old man was saying, making Jay drop Wisp's chains, "They are shedding their scales."

"What does that mean?" Jay asked.

"Every adolescent dragon goes through a transformation before it becomes an adult..."

Wisp snorted in agreement.

"…We must allow them to migrate east to the Spirit Coves, for their transformation," Sensei Wu continued, as the rest of the ninjas, and Nya came over to the two, having heard part of the conversation.

"Will we see them again?" Jay asked.

"It is hard to say," the elder answered and looked up at Wisp, "But we need to allow them to follow their path."

"Rocky's going east?" Cole asked; he stopped walking and let the other four keep going, then walked to his dragon.

He hugged the dragon's muzzle and begged, "Say it isn't so, Rocky."

Zane fondly patted Shard's nose. Kai and Nya walked to Flame, and Aniki rubbed her cheek against Blast's.

"Well…" Jay rubbed the back of his head and came to Nya, "I guess I gotta go on this long walk all by myself. Sure would be nice to have company."

Nya nodded.

"Of course we'll go, buddy!" Kai looked over Flame's muzzle.

"I could use a break!" Cole joined them.

"Better than chores," Aniki shrugged.

"All you had to do was ask," Zane said.

Jay, for the second time in as many days, put a hand to his head and sighed.

(Line break)

Flame, Wisp, Blast, Shard and Rocky flew past the group of seven trudging along the road. Sensei Wu was playing his flute; Cole looked up at the rapidly fading shapes of their dragons and frowned.

"Hah..." Jay sighed, "Of all the days to lose our ride."

"That flute," Zane interjected as he appeared at the old man's side, "You never told us why it's so special."

The sensei stopped playing and lectured, "Long ago, there were many flutes, created to combat the powers of the Serpentine and drive them underground. But, over time, Ninjago's forgotten its ancestors' wisdom..."

As he spoke, two birds flew above the seven.

"…And now, this is the only one."

Suddenly, Sensei Wu whipped around and began playing it again, startling Jay for a moment. The two birds landed on a nearby rock.

"I get the lesson," the blue ninja said, brushing past Aniki, "Respect your elders or suffer the consequences. Boy, you guys are layin' it on thick."

Sensei Wu chuckled, "Perhaps you are only hearing what you need to hear."

Jay stopped walking. In front of him, the entrance to Ed and Edna's Scrap 'n Junk stood dimly.

"What is it?" Nya asked and halted beside Jay.

"It's quiet..." Jay pulled on his hood, "My family's never quiet!"

He began running to the junkyard, everyone following him.

They gathered in a little section of the junkyard where the ground wasn't covered in junk. The seven were absolutely silent.

Then, Aniki motioned to Jay, "The broken fridge."

The blue ninja nodded and ran to said fridge. He kicked up at the metal pole blocking the door and opened it. Inside, his parents, chained and duct-taped.

"What happened?" Jay asked frantically, "Who did this?"

He took the tape off his mother's mouth. Small fangs protruded from her gums.

"Oh sssssweetheart," Edna said, "Ya came!"

Jay then took the tape from his father, who also had little fangs.

"Oh, ya gotta get outta here!" Ed said, "It's the sssssnakes!"

"The bite of the Fangpyre!" Sensei Wu exclaimed, "Once they sink their teeth, their venom can turn anything into a Serpentine!"

Ed and Edna hopped out of the fridge.

"That sounds almost as bad as having to fight your pal who got hypnotized!" the orange ninja exclaimed, remembering what happened on Lloyd's tree house.

Sensei Wu added, "It's only a matter of time before the full transformation is complete!"

Ed and his wife looked behind them, both feeling a tail trying to pop out.

A sharp hissing sound suddenly rang in everyone's ears. They turned to see a large wrecking ball... with a snake-like face. The Fangpyre were walking by it, letting out hisses of glee. Aniki growled; more snakes. Oh, this just kept getting better and better.

The ninjas got into their fighting positions.

"Uh, is that wrecking-ball staring at me?" the black ninja asked.

"Looks like it," Aniki confirmed.

The wrecking ball promptly swung around, headed straight for the nine humans.

"Duck!" Jay yelled.

He pushed his parents out of the way as everyone else dove in different directions. A large cloud of dust came up at the wrecking ball hit the ground.

"Thanksssss, son," Ed said when the dust had cleared.

"Lloyd!" Sensei Wu exclaimed.

Aniki turned around at the sound of her adoptive brother's name. She looked up and saw the boy smiling evilly and standing next to a two-headed snake. He saw her and waved, causing her to hesitantly wave back, then the boy returned his attention to the others.

"Hello, Uncle," Lloyd sneered, "Looks like we're not the only family reunion. I'm glad you brought the ninja. I could use some help _taking out the trash_."

He closed his eyes and raised his hands, giving his "evil" laugh, "Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"If we want to turn your parents back," Nya said to Jay, "we need the anti-venom from the staff!"

The wrecking ball swung around again.

"Second dose!" Aniki warned.

Cole yelled, "To the dirt!"

They scattered again.

"Easier said than done, sis," Kai said, putting a hand on his sword, "We're a bit outnumbered."

The red ninja took his sword out.

"Nobody messes with my family!" Jay took out his nun-chucks and rushed towards one of the Fangpyre.

He leaped in the air and brought the nun-chucks down, forcing the snakes back a bit.

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Jay spun into his lightning tornado and rammed into the Fangpyre, blowing them away.

The wrecking ball once again came towards him, but the ninja ducked under it and kept going.

Four more cries of "Ninjaaaaa-Go!" were heard as the wrecking ball got caught in a pile of junk. Kai, Aniki, Cole, and Zane scattered the Fangpyre like Jay had done.

Nya kept the Serpentine away from Sensei Wu, who was playing the flute and causing the Fangpyre to halt and cover their ears in pain. Nya was fighting much like the ninja, but with a few of her own moves.

"How'd it go, Sensei?" Nya asked, running toward the old man, "I think we make a pretty good duet."

A sudden blast of rock music caused the three to look up. Lloyd was now standing next to a boom-box, which drowned out the flute with the volume of the music.

"Young nephew!" Sensei Wu yelled, pointing his walking stick at the boy, "Must I teach you whose side you should be on?"

Lloyd just turned up the volume even more, and yelled back, "Sorry, Uncle! Can't hear you!"

Unbeknownst to the three, a Fangpyre quietly crept up to the elder. _Clang!_ The snake got knocked out by a frying pan wielded by Edna.

"Ha!" Ed shouted, "Way to go, Edna!"

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" The five ninjas cried as they whirled into their tornadoes and scared off a little group of Serpentine behind a junk pile.

While the ninjas followed them, the snakes jumped onto a large robot and sank their fangs into the metal. As quickly as the ninjas turned the corner, they stopped. A large rumbling shook their feet. They looked up, just as a large, green robot appeared behind the junk pile. Its ruby eyes glowed menacingly.

"_Gah_!" Jay raised his nun-chucks, "What is that thing?"

"It was, uh, supposed to be in your honor, son," Ed fiddled with his hands, "Uh, do ya like it?"

The robot lurched forward.

"Thanks!" Jay yelled, "But, no thanks!"

The four turned and ran as the robot swung its log-nun-chucks down, sending up a dust cloud. They looked back, and then saw where they were running. The wrecking ball had gotten out of the junk pile and now looked at them; a glowing green, venomous aura surrounded it.

"Oh, why'd you have to be born in a junkyard?" Cole shouted.

"I know!" Jay replied, "Tell me about it!"

The wrecking ball swung towards them yet again. Three shapes flew out of the dust and landed safely on the ground.

Kai looked around and commented, "Uh, wasn't there five of us?"

Aniki looked up and pointed: Jay was swinging on the wrecking ball. He stood on the ball of metal, then jumped in a graceful arc and landed on the roof of the control area. He swung down and kicked out the Fangpyre who was controlling it, then took hold of the joysticks. He looked down and scratched his head. A snake face with yellow eyes hissed at him.

"Let's see if I can work this," Jay said as he began to control the wrecking ball.

Cole blocked a blow from the robot with his scythe.

"Don't worry! I've got it!" He yelled as he struggled to keep his scythe up.

Jay suddenly swung the wrecking ball at the robot. It flew into the walking metal, which crashed in another pile of junk. He then got down from the machine and joined the other ninjas.

"I told you I had it!" Cole said, irritated.

Lloyd peered down at the downed robot, and then at the ninjas, who took out their weapons and brandished them threateningly.

"Retreat!" he yelled.

A Rattle-copter flew up to the boy and the double-headed snake. All the Fangpyre and mutated machines ran and hopped away.

"He's getting away with the staff!" Nya cried.

"Gee, Ya think?!" Aniki snapped.

"Right now would be a good time to have those dragons," Jay sighed.

"Eh... eh..." Ed panted as he put a hand on his son's shoulder, "Eh... It'sssss okay, ssssson."

"There is still a way," Sensei Wu said.

"How?" Jay asked.

"Part of reaching your own full potential is understanding your weapons' potential! Once it is in tune with the focused heart, its secrets and powers can be unlocked."

"Oh! This is not the time to be cryptic!" Jay snapped.

"He's saying our weapons are vehicles themselves," Zane translated.

"Awesome," Aniki cheered, throwing her hands in the air.

"Don't tell me I have to ride this like a broomstick," Kai frowned, looking down at his sword.

"Jay, concentrate on unlocking your Golden Weapon. Let your heart guide you!" the sensei explained quickly, "Imagine you're taking flight."

Jay looked down at his nun-chucks. He closed his eyes, then began swing the nun-chucks around. Lightning flashed down, and the ninja was engulfed in a pale blue bubble. Everything went white for a moment, and then it just as quickly disappeared. In place of the bubble was a blue and silver jet.

"Whoa!" Jay yelled, "Ha-hah! Did I just do that?"

Kai looked at his sword, then closed his eyes and began swinging it around. Flames spread along the length of the sword and Kai threw it into the air. He rose on a small hill of earth and there was an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Kai was sitting on a large motorcycle-type vehicle.

Aniki took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She then started doing martial arts movements very slowly, energy building up around her. Then, a flash of orange light exploded, and Aniki found herself in the cockpit of a helicopter-like vehicle.

Zane lashed out into thin air with his shurikens. The small pieces of metal shot out ice that formed around Zane, making a similar shape to Kai's motorcycle. The ice glowed, and with the rev of an engine, it broke away. Zane now sat on his own snowmobile.

Cole whipped his scythe around him. The scythe rose into the air and tendrils of rocks swirled around Cole and his weapon. A large hill of dirt covered the two and with a flash of golden light, Cole's scythe transformed into his vehicle: a high-tech cross between an ATV and a race car.

"Ha!" he shouted, "I'd hate to hurt Rocky's feelings, but I think he's just been replaced!"

Ed, Edna, Sensei Wu, and Nya watched in awe as the four took off on their vehicles, leaving them behind.

"Does your flute turn into anything?" Nya asked the old man.

The elder looked at his flute and said "I wish."

(Line break)

Something blue shot past the Rattle-copter carrying Lloyd and Fangtom.

"Whoa! What the heck was that?!" Lloyd cried.

"Whoops!" Jay chuckled, "Overshot that a little."

He turned around and headed for the Rattle-copter again.

He lined up the Rattle-copter with the center of the screen and said, "Let's see what this baby can do."

He pressed a button and the jet began to bounce out of control. Fangtom and Lloyd ducked as the jet hurtled over them. Fangtom shook it off, and then looked at his hand.

"The staff!" his second head yelled.

"I got it?" Jay looked at the staff in a daze, "Ha! I got it! Ha-ha-ha!"

Suddenly, the jet gave a mighty shake and transformed back into nun-chucks. With an "Uh-oh." and a yell, Jay began to fall towards the sandy ground.

"Jay! You have to concentrate!" Kai shouted.

"_I caaaaan't_!" Jay shouted back.

"I think we're gonna have to catch him," Cole said, "I got him."

"No, I got him!" Kai swerved.

"I'll get him!" Aniki raced.

"He's mine!" Zane zoomed ahead.

The vehicles all collided and disappeared, sending the ninjas up into the air.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!" Jay then landed in a car.

He tumbled into a seat next to Nya, who was driving. Behind her sat he teacher and his parents, the latter two now green, scaly, and equipped with tails.

"Ehe-he..." Jay shook his head, "Nice catch."

"Ooh," Edna said, "I knew I liked thisssssh girl."

"Everyone…" Fangtom's second head shouted to his army.

"… Attack!" yelled his first head.

With loud revs and angry hissing, the mutated vehicles and Fangpyre surged forward. Zane, Aniki, Kai, and Cole picked up their weapons, but nothing happened.

Kai shook his sword as the car stopped behind the ninjas.

"Why isn't it working?" he shrieked.

"Your weapon is merely an extension of your mind!" Sensei Wu called from the car, "If your mind is immobile, so is your weapon."

"Oh boy," Ed hissed, "Oh gosssssh, oh golly, oh darn. Get in boysssssh!"

"We need to get back to headquarters!" Jay told Nya as the three other ninjas climbed aboard the car.

She nodded and slammed her foot on the accelerator, the Fangpyre in pursuit.

"Look!" Lloyd yelled, "They're getting away!"

(Line break)

The ninjas, Sensei Wu, Nya, Ed, and Edna ran up the ship's ramp.

"Come with me," Nya said to Ed and Edna, "Once we reverse the venom, we can fix you."

The three ran into a lower room.

The ninjas and Sensei Wu ran into the bridge.

"Man your stations!" Jay ordered, "Everyone!"

He ran to the button. Kai and Aniki looked out a window. The Fangpyre were getting rapidly closer.

"Here they come!" Aniki warned.

"Jay! We better hurry!" Kai called.

"I've been waiting for this moment," Jay said as he rubbed his hands, then he slammed his hand down on the button but nothing happened.

The other three looked around.

Kai yelled, "They're gaining on us!"

(Line break)

Ed and Edna each took a cup held out by Nya.

"Bottomsssssh up," Ed said before downing the anti-venom.

A pale golden light shimmered over the couple, turning them back to normal.

(Line break)

"Agh!" Jay groaned, repeatedly hitting the pedestal over and over, "I don't get what's wrong! I spent forever on this, it's supposed to work!"

Ed walked up behind him and said, "Ah, son? Maybe I can help."

"Dad!" Jay exclaimed, "Y-you're okay!"

"Heh, darn tootin'," his father replied, bending over and working on some of the wires.

"Oh, let's have a look... Ah-hah!" Ed stood up after a few seconds, "That should do it! Now try it!"

Jay nodded and pushed the button. Everyone heard a loud whistling sound. The ship shook and the roar of a rocket reached her ears. Aniki stumbled forward into Nya as the ship somehow flew into the sky.

"No! No! No!" Lloyd cried, only to choke on the ship's exhaust fumes.

Nya stumbled as well and accidentally let go of the staff. It bounced out the room and over the ship's railing and conked a Fangpyre on the ground below. With another roar, the ship blasted off.

The Rattle-copter flew low to the ground and Fangtom picked up the staff from where it had fallen.

"These ninja…" Fangtom's second head hissed.

"…They must be stopped!" the first finished.

"Oh..." Lloyd shook his head, "Tell me about it..."

(Line break)

The ninjas' ship, the _Bounty_, flew gracefully over the clouds.

"We'll get you back to the junkyard just as soon as the coast is clear," Jay told his parents, "But... stay as long as you like. It's nice, having you here."

"Oh, take a note, Edna," Ed said, putting his arm around Jay's shoulders, "Of all our inventions, this one is our greatest."

Edna threw her notepad behind her and replied, "I already know, dear."

The family then hugged. The old man watched them from a distance then looked at Aniki who was leaning over on the railings, watching the sunset. Though her back was to him, the elder knew that she was jealous of her blue counterpart.

(Line break)

_**Aww**_**, poor Aniki, she misses her real family. Wonder what happened to them, wait, **_**I**_** don't have to do that, **_**you**_** do. Review to give ideas anyways, I'm open for fresh ideas, really, **_**please review**_**.**


	8. Never Trust A Snake

_A dark shape flew by in the desert. It landed on a telephone wire by the road, now a falcon, scaring away some birds, then looked directly at Zane._

_"Wake up, Zane," it said in a deep voice, "I know where you come from."_

* * *

_Zane quickly lifted his head up, waking, and smashed it on the bottom of Kai's bed. With a gasp and a groan, he rolled out of his bed. He looked out window and smile, the falcon was out there. He noticed that the other boys and Aniki were not in their beds._

* * *

_Zane opened the door the bridge and walked in._

_"The hunt starts early today," he remarked._

_"A watchful eye never sleep," Sensei Wu looked up from a map._

_"As long as Lloyd and the Serpentine roam freely, "Nya said, "_no one_ in Ninjago is safe."_

_"Where are the others?" Zane asked._

_"Training on the upper deck," the old man answered._

* * *

_Zane walked out of the bridge and to the upper deck, only to find it empty. He noticed the swirling clouds around the ship, meaning they were flying. A cawing sound caused him to look up, though. The falcon was sitting on the top of the mast._

_"You were in my dream, little friend," Zane said, "Last time I saw you, you led me to good fortune. What reason have you returned?"_

_The falcon cawed again, and flew off. Zane ran, following the bird until it flew past the ship and Zane could not follow it. The white ninja continued watching it; however, a dark presence alerted him._

_"Lord Garmadon," Zane realized as he turned around, "But, you were banished!"_

_"Only to return for the weapons of Spinjitzu," Lord Garmadon said and then pulled two silver swords off his back, "Soon, I will have the power to re-create Ninjago... in my own image."_

_Zane jumped as the Dark Lord swung his two swords, and the ninja landed behind the lord of darkness, and whipped out his shurikens._

_"Give me your shurikens of ice!" Lord Garmadon demanded._

_"You'll have to take them from me!" Zane shouted, "Ninjaaaaa-Go!"_

_With that, he spun into his tornado and moved towards Lord Garmadon, only to get caught by the throat and flung back into a pile of metal and machinery by the dark lord._

_"So be it," the villain muttered, slicing a rope._

_At the end of a rope was a large crate directly above Zane. Once the rope was severed, the crate came hurtling towards the ninja. Zane looked up and raised a hand to his face instinctively. He closed his eyes... and didn't feel the crate. Zane opened his eyes again and saw a blur of green holding the crate up. The blur moved, and Zane could then clearly see it._

_"The Green Ninja," Zane marveled, "The legend's true."_

_And it was true. The Green Ninja stood before him, glowing with a faint green light. Zane then turned his attention back to Lord Garmadon. The lord of darkness brandished his swords and flipped towards the two ninjas. The Green Ninja moved with agility and attacked Lord Garmadon in mid-flip and with some invisible power, pushed the Dark Lord back a few feet, his hand never actually touching him. The ninja stood in front of Zane, who watched in awe, the emerald hero seem to know every move his opponent was going to make before it even happened!_

_Lord Garmadon narrowed his red eyes and rushed towards the Green Ninja, who jumped up and landed on the flat sides of Garmadon's swords. The ninja was hurled towards the mast, and he swung around the width of the mast. He dodged the swords and whirled into a green tornado._

_The white ninja was dumbfounded as he witnessed the Green Ninja then fight Lord Garmadon with the golden nun-chucks. The Green Ninja finally ended the battle and flung the villain off the side of the ship, into the clouds. Zane looked to the other ninja, whose eyes were now burning like fire. He held a ball of flames in his right hand, and the falcon sat calmly on his left arm, an aura of pure energy surrounding the two._

_"Who are you?" Zane asked and got up, "Kai? Aniki? Is that you?"_

_Something black flashed in front of his face and again._

_"What's the meaning of this?! __**Who are you, Green Ninja?!"**_

_Again and again, over and over, black shapes shot by close to his face, until he was surrounded by dozens and dozens of falcons. The Green Ninja just stood there, watching him._

* * *

Zane woke with a start, hitting his head on the underside of Kai's bed. He groaned in pain then opened his eyes and saw the three other male ninjas already awake.

"Oh, sleeping in?" Jay's voice reached his ears, "You're gonna be late for training. Aniki's been out there since before sunrise."

The white ninja sat up in his bed and asked, "How come no one awakened me?"

"We didn't think you wanted us to," Kai answered, "Looked like you were having some dream."

"How do I know this isn't a dream…" Zane was saying before he got interrupted by Cole whacking him in the face with a pillow.

"Does that feel like a dream?" Cole grinned.

"No," Zane snapped, rubbing his head, "Thank you for your help."

The other boys laughed.

* * *

The boys walked out onto the upper deck, where bright flashes of light could be found. Zane blinked and saw Aniki's bright orange tornado spinning and swirling on the deck, periodic strings of energy pulses running through. When she stopped, she turned and cupped her hands together, sending a dummy back four feet. Zane starred in awe at her last move, similar to what he saw in his dream, and didn't notice Kai tapping him on the shoulder.

"Ha-ha-ha! A little slow today, huh?" Kai said to Zane.

Aniki heard him and stopped what she was doing. She stretched and walked to the boys.

"Morning, guys," Aniki yawned, "What's up with Zane being 'a little slow'?"

"He had a dream," Cole replied.

"What exactly did you dream about?" She looked confused.

"I saw the falcon again."

She blinked and Jay said, "Whoa, Zane, every time you see that bird, something big happens. First, it led you to the secret tree house."

"Then, it led you to the Bounty," Cole added.

While they were talking, Sensei Wu walked out onto the deck and stopped in front of them.

"Alright," he said, "Stretches... First: the swooping crane."

He turned around and assumed a pose. The five ninjas copied him.

"This time, it showed me the Green Ninja," Zane whispered.

Four shouts of "The Green Ninja!" were heard. Sensei Wu turned around and saw Zane copying the pose, Aniki with her jaw hanging, Cole covering his ears, Kai covering his eyes, and Jay covering his mouth.

"That looks like the 'shocked monkey'," the old man said, "Bad form, more focus."

He turned around and posed again, the others following.

"You can't just drop a bomb like that," Jay explained, "Spill the beans."

"Yeah, what else did you see?" Kai asked.

"He was fighting Lord Garmadon," Zane answered.

"That's what the prophecy said," Kai confirmed, "That the Green Ninja would defeat the Dark Lord."

"Yeah, but, did you get a chance to see which one of us was him or her?" Aniki asked.

"Yeah!" Cole copied.

"Yeah, didja see?" Jay repeated.

"I could not tell," Zane admitted, "He shared attributes each one of us possess, even Aniki's powers."

"Now!" Sensei Wu crouched low to the ground, "Pinching crab!"

They copied him and Aniki spoke up, "So, the Green Ninja might be me?"

Zane shrugged, "He performed your move and seem to have your 'battle premonition,' so it may be possible."

"Well tell us everything! And don't spare any details," Kai said, "There has to be a clue that tells us which one of us is gonna be the Green Nin… _Ow, ow, ow! Hey_!"

While Kai had been talking to Zane, their teacher had walked up to him and pulled his hair.

"What was so important to ignore my teachings?" the man asked.

"Uh, nothing," Kai responded.

"It was nothing, Sensei!" Cole insisted.

"We were all listening!" Aniki gripped her hand.

"Yeah, we don't talk while you teach," Jay shook his head.

"Everyone was paying attention," Zane said.

Unfortunately, their mentor did not believe them.

"Since you all appear to be lacking focus," Sensei Wu said, "Then you can all share in the punishment!"

"What?!"

"Punishment?!"

"Gahaww!"

"It was all Zane!"

"I was merely answering their questions!"

"No free time, and no video games," their sensei said, "The rest of the day can be used for training.. _And tomorrow_, for that matter..."

He began walking away.

"_Training_?!" Kai complained, "For how long?"

"Until you can answer this simple riddle," their mentor turned around, "'what is the best way to defeat an enemy?'"

"Easy, with a sword!" –Kai.

"Your fists!" –Jay.

"Know your enemy?!" –Aniki.

"Spinjitzu!" –Cole.

"Tornado of Creation?" –Zane.

Sensei Wu sighed and walked up the stairs, saying, "Pace yourselves… You have a lot of training ahead of you. Make sure you sharpen your mind, as well as your Spinjitzu."

The ninjas lowered their arms and their whole bodies drooped for a moment. Cole walked to a box full of training gear.

He pulled out a sparring stick and sighed, "What's the best way to defeat an enemy? ... It could be anything!"

Jay set up the training equipment and began using it, saying, "Come on, guys, we're smart. We can figure this out."

Kai threw a blow to a punching bag, and then looked up, Sensei Wu was gone. He, Cole, Jay, and Aniki gathered around Zane.

"Yeah, but let's hear more about this dream," the red ninja said.

"Let me just say," Zane began, "The Green Ninja is awesome!"

* * *

The entire Fangpyre army marched across the white snow, the mutated vehicles led the way. Lloyd shouted orders to the army and watched their progress to the Hypnobrai lair eagerly.

Far ahead, the Hypnobrai army marched forward, with Skales at the front.

"The Hypnobrai," Lloyd muttered, raising his hands from where they were resting on Fangtom's tail. "Now, we teach them a lesson for betraying Lloyd Garmadon!"

Fangtom stared at the boy who then replied, "Um... do your thing, Fangpyre, I released you for a reason."

"Attack!" Fangtom's second head shouted.

Lloyd's ears almost burst from the roar of the Fangpyre and the Hypnobrai armies. Both tribes charged forward, until Skales saw Fangtom. He stuck his staff in the ground as Fangtom jumped off the vehicle he was on and slithered to him.

"Skales, my old chum!" Fangtom's first head exclaimed.

"I didn't think I'd be fighting you!" his second head said, "Mmm, moved up in the world, have we?"

He bumped fists with the new Hypnobrai general.

"Well, if it isn't the Fangpyre!" Skales hissed, with a snake-ish smile on his face, "Of all the cold-blooded to creep up on ussss, I'm glad that it is a friend."

"Wait," Lloyd said, "I thought you were enemies... _Not friends_!"

"We _were _at war," Fangtom turned around.

His second head spoke, "But, seeing as how Skales is leading them, well... I don't see why we can't be comrades."

"Had you released the Constrictai," Skales said, "_the Venomari_, or, heaven forbid, the Anacondrai… _then_ we would've had a tussle."

"A tussle? _A tussle_?!" Lloyd yelled, "But, I'm Lloyd Garmadon, **Bringer of Evil!**"

The Serpentine generals chuckled.

"What should we do with him?" Skales asked Fangtom, loudly enough for Lloyd to hear.

"I could turn him into one of us."

"Hmm... Nah. The little tyke is pretty useless."

"What if you hypnotize him, and make him think he is a pig?"

"That would be pretty funny!"

The two Serpentine generals laughed. While they were distracted, Lloyd climbed off the mutated vehicle and began running. He stopped for a moment and realized the Fangpyre were slowly cutting off his escape. He hopped onto the tail of another mutated vehicle, which felt him and threw him off. Lloyd landed face-first in the snow a few yards away.

* * *

"…With his fist on fire," Zane concluded.

The four listening ninjas "Ohhh"-ed and Kai mused, "So, I'm the Green Ninja."

"What are you talking about?" Cole said, "He had incredible strength to lift the cargo and save his life. It's me."

"Um, hello?" Aniki knocked on Cole's head, "Were you even listening? He _or she_ had super powers. Everyone knows I'm the only one that has super powers!"

"Did you miss the part of the story where the guy pulled out nun-chucks?" Jay took out his nun-chucks, "I have nun-chucks!"

"I think you are all missing the point of this dream," Zane interrupted, the four looked at him, "The point is, the falcon flew on his arm, and it was my dream. So, naturally it's me."

"I think we can cross Cole off the list," Jay stated, "I could lift it ten times!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, cross me off the list?" Cole interjected, "What about Aniki? The Green Ninja had to have been a guy, so she can't be him!"

"He or she had super powers!" Aniki protested, "Like mine! Kai doesn't have any powers, so he's out!"

"The Green Ninja was holding fire! It's me!"

And Kai, Cole, Zane, Jay, and Aniki began arguing.

"Since you are not training…" The five broke off with little jumps and turned around and saw their master was walking towards them, "You must have already found the answer to my riddle: What is the best way to defeat an enemy?"

"Uh..." Kai thought for a moment, "The best way to defeat your enemy is to... train, Sensei?"

"Feeble and incorrect!" The sensei said, "Maybe more training will help you focus."

"Wait! I know!" Aniki spoke up, "There _is no_ one good way; it's a trick question, right?"

"No," Was the response, Aniki groaned.

"Remember what happened to your vehicles when you lost focus," the old man continued as he backed into a lower part of the ship, "A razor-sharp weapon is an extension of a razor-sharp mind."

And with that, the door slammed shut. The ninjas sighed.

"How am I supposed to focus when we don't know who the Green Ninja is?" Jay whined.

"I don't want to be training all day," Cole said, "Let's work together on this riddle."

* * *

"_Had you released the Constrictai, the Venomari, or_ heaven forbid, the Anacondrai, _then we would've had a tussle_," Lloyd mocked the Serpentine generals as he walked across the desert.

He lowered his map and immediately saw a large, off-white fang marking the desert.

"I found it!"

He ran to the door just under the fang and brushed away the sand and dust.

"The Anacondrai," Lloyd whispered, "The most feared and powerful Serpentine of them all! If they're afraid of the Anacondrai, then the Anacondrai is what they're gonna get! Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

He opened the doors and walked inside. He had to become braver over the past three months that Aniki had been gone. She used to fight for him, take care of him, and protect him, but not anymore. Now that she was a ninja, he didn't see her anymore, except when she and her guy friends come to mess things up for Lloyd. He puffed out his chest slightly as he thought of his bravery in even thinking of releasing the Anacondrai.

Lloyd realized it was dark, then, and became proud of himself for remembering to bring a flashlight. He flicked it on and swept the beam of light around. The light fell several times on snake-like skeletons, making the boy shiver slightly. He walked deeper into the cave, until the sunlight from the door eventually disappeared. And then he heard it: something hissed in his ear.

With a yell of fright, he tumbled head-over-heels and let go of the flashlight. The boy sat up and was immediately met by a purple face with glowing pink eyes.

"My sincerest apologies, young man," the Anacondrai snake said with a bit of a British accent.

He picked up Lloyd's flashlight, "Due to my unfortunate appearance, I tend to have an unsettling effect on people."

Lloyd stood up, and the snake handed him his flashlight, "Oh, I believe you dropped this."

"Oh... um... thank you," Lloyd stammered, turning the light on once again, "What happened to the others?"

"Poor unfortunate souls," the snake said, "All those years, locked away, with nothing to eat. Must've slowly starved away, until they were just scales and bones."

The snake's stomach rumbled and Lloyd set the beam of light onto it, with a slight feeling that the snake wasn't telling the _whole_ truth.

"And who may you be, my little appetiz- err... I'm mean, friend?"

"Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon, and future Dark Ruler!"

"Oh!" The snake laughed, "How deliciously evil! If I had feet, ooh, I'd be trembling in my boots!"

"And, uh, who are you?"

"Humbly, I am Pythor, P. Chumsworth. And since you've freed me, I'm eternally in your service."

"Really?"

Lloyd was intrigued. Forget the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre! This Anacondrai dude, Pythor, was his servant!

Then, he remembered what the two other tribes had done, "You're not gonna trick me?"

"Oh, why would I trick you? I hardly have any friends."

"Whoa! I hardly have any friends, either!"

"You don't say!"

"Well, I sorta do have one, but she joined the ninja."

"She? Ohhh, is she your _special_ friend?"

"Wha...! No, _no way_! _She's my sister_!"

"Oh, my apologizes," Pythor said, "Ah, why did she join the... ninja?"

"I dunno, probably got brain washed..." Lloyd suddenly thought of a brilliant plan, turning his back to the snake, "Hey, how'd you like to be my loyal henchman? I've been betrayed by the Hypnobrai, and the Fangpyre, and I'm looking to get some revenge on the ninja my friend joined."

Pythor noticed and stared at the map in the boy's back pocket.

"I love revenge!" Lloyd turned to see Pythor holding his arms in a fan-girlish way, "Oh, you know, Floyd…"

"It's Lloyd," the boy corrected.

"Whatever. I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

"Has anyone figured it out, yet?" Aniki's voice broke everyone's concentration.

The four boys looked up to see her hand-standing on the edge of the Bounty.

"I'm beginning to think we're never going to be able to answer it."

"It can't be that hard," Jay thought aloud as the others resumed training, "What's the best way to defeat an enemy?"

"Zane, you're smart," Kai threw blows to a punching bag, "What is it?"

"I do not know," Zane answered, balancing on one leg, "But, I sense that Sensei is going to keep us here until we can work together and find an answer."

"That bothers me," Cole said, spinning a three-foot-long wooden pole around his body, "'Cause while we're working here, that means the enemy is playing."

He slammed the pole into the ground, and then swung it over his shoulder, accidently knocking his female counterpart over the edge, screaming. The boys burst into laughter as she hauled herself back up, her hair and clothes soaking with seawater and a murderous glint in her eyes. She narrowed her eyes and charged at Cole. While she chased the black ninja around the deck, she hoped Lloyd was staying out of trouble.

* * *

Not getting into trouble was far from what he was doing now; Lloyd was instead perched on the front of a scooter, causing trouble. Pythor was pushing the scooter along with the end of his tail.

"Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Lloyd laughed as the pair knocked over crates and boxes.

* * *

Then, they went on a rule-breaking montage, which involved Pythor taking a 'No Walking on the Grass' sign out of the grass and Lloyd proceeding to roll over it, the two taking over an ice cream cart, throwing pebbles at little boys' boats and sinking them, and actually taking candy from babies.

Then, laughing semi-evilly, semi-gleefully, they traveled back to the Anacondrai tomb.

* * *

"You're the best _henchman_ a _mastermind_ could ever have!"

Pythor chuckled, low and deep, "Oh, Lloyd, you're the best _mastermind _a _henchman _could ever have."

A candy-faced Lloyd laughed, a bit loopy on candy.

"Why is it that you have no friends?" Pythor suddenly asked, catching the boy off-guard.

He hesitated, "Well, I could've had more friends, back in my Boarding School for Bad Boys, but I decided to run away and never let them see me again!"

He waved a cone of cotton candy around.

"Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!

"Really... Ah, why would you run away from making friends? Everybody needs friends. Even tyrants!"

"Well... um... uh... maybe I didn't run away... Maybe I, uh, I got kicked out..."

"_From the Boarding School for Bad Boys?_" Pythor and Lloyd sat up, "I don't believe it! I hear they are the breeding ground for the truly despicable. And if you ask me, ho-ho, you are a handful!"

Lloyd smiled, then frowned slightly. That's what Aniki always called him whenever he got into trouble. Then, the memory faded away as he realized Pythor was complimenting him, in a criminal standpoint.

"Well, thank you, Pythor," the boy responded, "But, they told me I wasn't bad enough. They said I lacked 'the immoral ambition to be one of tomorrow's masterminds'. Plus my sister's a ninja and they're more afraid of her than my dad."

"Well, you'll show them!"

The pair stood up.

"That's right! I will show them!"

"Then _why don't we_?"

"Uh... 'Why don't we' what? Lloyd asked.

"Let's get revenge on the very school that rejected you!" Pythor explained while he lifted Lloyd into the air, "When the ninja come to the rescue, we'll have a trap laid out for them! We might even rescue your sister."

"A double revenge plus rescue?"

"A double revenge plus rescue. Get some rest, hijacking an ice cream truck is a lot for anyone! And if you're going to rule the world, well, ho-ho-ho, you'll need to get your sleep! Oh... and one more thing..."

"Yes?"

"_I'll be your friend._"

With a yawn, Lloyd hugged Pythor and settled his head on the snake's long neck.

"Aw, Pythor, you're the best."

Pythor set the boy on the floor again, and Lloyd immediately curled up on the ground, the map sticking clearly out of his pocket as he fell asleep. The snake then chuckled evilly and went to grab the map, but just then Lloyd turned on his side, hiding the map. Pythor growled lowly, mentally cursing his bad luck.

* * *

The door to the elder's room burst open and five heads peeked in.

"Huh?" the old man looked up and spotted the ninjas, "You must've found the answer to what is the best way to defeat an enemy."

The ninjas filed into the room in a semi-circle and Cole said, "We have, Sensei, it's, on three guys…One, two!"

With a chorus of "Teamwork!", five hands were placed together.

"Is this what you all think?" the sensei asked.

"Totally!"

"Yeah!"

"Correct!"

"Yup!"

"Absolutely!"

"Sadly... you are all wrong," Sensei Wu went back to his paper and his students groaned.

* * *

Cole, Kai, Jay, Zane, and Aniki left the hallway where everyone's rooms were.

"I'm starting to think whoever figures out this riddle can be the Green Ninja for all I care!" Cole snarled.

Suddenly, red lights began flashing and a loud alarm started blaring.

"What's that?" Jay shouted.

"Who cares?" Kai exclaimed, "It's something else besides training!"

"Finally!" Aniki praised.

* * *

The ninjas ran to the bridge, where Nya was waiting beside the large screen.

"Break it down for me, sis," Kai said.

"Lloyd and the Serpentine have overtaken Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys," Nya explained.

"That place is a cesspool for the crooked and misbehaved!" Jay clenched one of his hands into a fist.

"It doesn't mean they don't need our help," Aniki reminded; after all, the students were just kids.

"Step on it," Cole ordered Zane.

The white ninja complied, running and flipping to the button and pressing down on it. With a _whoosh_, the sails opened. And a roar of the engines, the Bounty prepared for flight.

The team of five ran to the upper deck and with five cries of "Ninjaaaaa-Go!", the ninjas put their hands together once again. The engines began working and the rockets roared to life. The Bounty lifted into the air and headed for the boarding school.

* * *

The school's bell rang.

"Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

In a science classroom, several boys were tied up, as well as the two substitute teachers, both of whom were gaged and upside down.

* * *

Lloyd and Pythor rode along the corridors on skateboards a few stories up.

"Hey! How are the booby traps?" Lloyd asked.

"Every door, window, and hole in this place are spring-loaded!"

"Good! I'm sick and tired of those ninja sneaking their way into _my evil_ doings..."

* * *

High above the boarding school, Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, and Aniki were contemplating on how to get down.

"Looks quiet down there," Zane observed, peering over the edge, "Should we infiltrate using stealth?"

Kai sighed, "We've done that. What about using our Golden Weapons and turning them into vehicles?"

"Yeah, I'm still working out the kinks on that," Cole replied, his vehicle stuck between the railings.

"Anyone have any other good ideas?" Aniki asked.

"Hmm..." Jay mused, "Well, I have one idea. But, you guys gotta trust me."

Aniki edged away from him and Kai sighed.

"Oh, I don't think I like the sound of this."

* * *

Lloyd paced along the roof of the school, muttering and mumbling to himself.

"Relax, we've made the perfect trap," Pythor tried soothing him, "We're in broad daylight, so there isn't any shadows. And, even if they could get in…"

Lloyd spotted something darting around a few yards below the school.

_"What's that?!"_

He moved away and Pythor aimed and fired a net from a cannon at the thing. When the dust cleared , the thing was clearly seen: nothing more than a lizard.

"Uh, good... yeah. Good reflexes, I was just testing you, "Lloyd stammered, "If I know these ninjas, they're cleverly sneaking their way right past us at this very moment."

* * *

Actually, no, no they weren't. Instead of stealthily moving up the building's many floors, the five were holding onto the Bounty's anchor.

"Jay," Kai said nervously, "I don't know about this!"

"Just hold on tight!" Jay ordered.

"Got that covered!" Aniki shrieked, gripping the anchor so hard, the skin under her gloves turned white.

Jay motioned to Nya to release the anchor, which she did. The anchor fell at an alarming speed. All five ninjas were lifted into the air as they hurtled towards the school. Two figures on the roof moved hastily out of the way as the anchor crashed through the roof, then through three or four floors. They all gave a sigh of relief that the ordeal was over, but only to fall into one more floor.

The boys began coughing, while Aniki and Jay hung from the previous floor, groaning.

"Okay," Cole said, "Let's agree to never do that again."

Aniki and Jay dropped down from the ceiling, the black ninja walked up to the tied up students and raised his scythe. The boys whimpered and cowered, but Cole only sliced through the ropes, freeing them.

"Stay outta school, kids!" Cole called after them.

Then, he turned to the substitute teachers.

"Well, well, well, Kruncha and Nuckal. Substitute teachers, eh? If we cut you down, we'd better not catch you hanging around Ninjago again."

Kruncha nodded his head in agreement, and Nuckal shook his promising to never come back.

"… Or else. "

With another swipe of his scythe, the Skulkin were released. They ran into each other twice before running in opposite directions, only for the dumber of the two to circle back.

"He's on the top floor!" Kai jumped onto the anchor and pointed at the roof, "Let's get him!"

Aniki shook her head and regained her focus. She cried "Ninjaaaaa-Go!" with the others, then followed Cole to the top, pouncing onto the anchor's chain and climbing up it like him, but not as quickly. Kai and Zane swirled into their tornadoes and speeded up the stairs. Jay took a graffiti elevator.

* * *

Three floors up, Pythor looked at the door, knowing the ninja were coming. With a yell, Kai kicked down the door, and he and Zane. A green goop suddenly poured over them, instantly hardening.

"Waaa!" Kai groaned in disgust.

"I can't move," Zane realized.

With an evil chuckle, a giant purple snake slithered past the two.

"Mua-ha-ha-ha!" Lloyd laughed.

He looked down and spotted Cole and Aniki climbing up the chains. He gulped and ran from the hole in the roof.

* * *

Jay's eyelids lowered as he grew sleepier. The elevator music was... really... His eyes closed for a moment before they snapped back open again.

* * *

Cole reached a floor where Pythor was. Aniki was lagging behind a few feet down, trying to keep climbing and not have her lungs explode from the strain at the same time.

"Phew," she panted, "I need to join a gym."

Cole leaped from the chains and landed on the wooden floor.

He whipped around his scythe, warning, "Prepare to eat dust!"

Pythor yanked on a rope under Cole's feet, releasing a green cloud of gas. The black ninja fell, dropped his scythe, and began coughing harshly. Cole groaned as Jay burst out of the elevator.

"He's got a Serpentine with him! Watch out for booby traps!" the black ninja coughed, pointing towards Pythor.

Jay looked at the one Serpentine.

"Aah! That's one big snake!"

He flipped out of the room and chased, Aniki sill continuing her climb, this time going into high gear. She had a sinking feeling that the snake was up to something.

* * *

"They're coming! _They're coming! __**They're coming!**_**"** Lloyd yelled and began running in circles around the roof as Pythor came up the stairs to the roof.

The snake shut the door to the stairs with his tail, and then threw a wooden beam onto it. They backed up as the blue ninja popped up, spinning his pair of nun-chucks.

"Shocked to see me?"

"Do something!" Lloyd cried.

With an chuckle, Pythor took the map from the boy's back pocket.

"Wha...!" Lloyd looked up, a hurt look on his face, "What are you doing? I thought you were my friend!"

"All you want was to make the Serpentine your slaves," Pythor hissed, "Well, sorry, my dear boy, but I have other plans."

And with that, he disappeared from sight.

Lloyd gasped and looked around frantically; he started running away from the advancing blue ninja. He stopped after a moment and peered over the edge of the roof. That... was a long way down...too far down. If he tried, he would be killed.

"Lloyd," a familiar voice spoke in a soft tone.

The boy turned to see Aniki standing next to him, though a little weak looking. He didn't care; he just instinctly wrapped his arms around her, knowing that she would do the same. A loud noise made Lloyd looked back up and saw the ninjas' ship. The red ninja was there, as well as the white ninja, the black ninja, the girl in red, and his uncle. Everyone was now on the roof.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon!" his uncle shouted, "You come here _**right now**_!"

"I got him!" The blue ninja pulled away and picked Lloyd up with ease and threw the boy onto his shoulder.

"Wah! Hey, let me go!" Lloyd complained.

"What should we do with him?" The black ninja asked as the red and white ninjas joined him, "Wash his mouth out with soap…_For a year_?"

"Ground him indefinitely? The red ninja suggested.

"Have him sit in a corner for a century?" The white ninja added.

"Please just chores around the Bounty. Please just chores around the Bounty," Aniki prayed; hoping her master would be a bit lenient to the small boy.

"I know exactly what we must do," The old man said.

Lloyd gulped, he was so hooped.

* * *

Before Lloyd's punishment commenced, the boy's uncle had him wash up (much to the grateful satisfaction of the ninjas and Nya; according to the girls, Lloyd smelled like a ripe fish) and have some dinner. Then the elder took the boy into a room with a mat, a lamp, and some of Aniki's landscape paintings.

Tucking the child in, the old man read a story about a fictional hare that had a similar experience as Lloyd.

"…And that is why Jack the Rabbit never trusts a snake," the man concluded, "The end."

He shut closed the book he was reading from and smiled down at Lloyd, who was curled up under the blanket.

"Huh..." the boy said, "If my dad had read me that book, I would never have made that mistake."

Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, and Aniki watched silently from the doorway, hidden in the shadows.

"I'm sorry, Uncle," Lloyd apologized, guilt evident in his tone.

"You do not need to apologize. I am sure that if your father was still here, it would be the first book he'd read," Sensei Wu patted Lloyd's blond hair, "Good night, nephew. Sweet dreams."

Lloyd yawned sleepily, "Good night, Uncle."

Sensei Wu backed up, watching his nephew for a moment. The ninjas flipped away. Then, the sensei turned and left.

* * *

"I don't get it, Master," Aniki said as she and the other four gathered behind Sensei Wu on the upper deck.

"Why isn't the little brat getting _punished_?!" Jay whined angrily.

"Yeah," Cole agreed, "We had to train all day and he gets read a bedtime story? It's not fair."

"You're right," the mentor turned around, now facing his five pupils, "I nearly forgot... Why are you not still training? Did you find the answer to the riddle?"

The five let their faces fall and Kai sighed.

"No, Sensei," he admitted, "We still don't know what the best way to defeat your enemy is."

"I don't think we ever will," Aniki added, "I guess warriors aren't problem solvers."

The five bowed their heads in failure and turned to walk away. Their master then decided that even though the five needed more focus, they had enough punishment.

"It is," Sensei Wu answered, "to make them your friend."

They "Ohhh"-ed and Zane motioned for them to follow him. His friends complied. They stopped in front of Lloyd's room, where the boy was sleeping peacefully.


	9. Can of Worms

**Hey everybody, I'm still here and I still wanna know why I'm not getting any more reviews for my stories. Oh and I also wanted to say that I made my first crossover, just look at my stories. Okay, enough rambling, here's ep. 5. I own only Aniki, plot changes, and any other OCs.**

**(Line break)**

It had been almost a week since the ninja allowed Lloyd to move in with them, just long enough for him to learn everyone's names. At the moment, the _Bounty_ was perched on a tall, flat-headed mountain. Aniki was making her way to the shower in the ninja's room when Lloyd bumped into her.

"Oh, sorry Aniki," the little boy replied, "but Kai told me to tell you that he fixed the shower head so when you turn it on, it won't sound like starving whales anymore."

"Good to know, Lloyderon," Aniki said as she took off the boy's hood and rubbed her hand through his hair.

Lloyd laugh a bit and said, "Well, see ya sis."

After he left, Aniki stepped into the shower, pulled the curtain over, and threw her clothes over the rack. She turned on the faucet and started screaming.

She then stuck her head, on covered with yesterday's dinner on her head, and screamed, "Gahh! Kaaaaaiiiiiii!"

(Line break)

Kai picked up a game controller and settled back for a good hour of video games. He turned on the game when Lloyd walked in, whistling.

"Hey, Kai," the boy spoke up, "Heh, I saw Cole beat your high score. Ya should've seen it, it was pretty spectacular."

Kai turned around, "Uh, you must be talking about _Sitar Legend_. This is _Fist to Face 2_; No one beats me on my game."

"Huh, could be wrong," Lloyd said before he walked away, "See ya!"

Just to be sure, Kai brought up the high scores on the screen. Sure enough, Cole's image was on each of the high scores.

"Cooole!"

(Line break)

In the kitchen, Cole was busy stirring a pot of soup.

"Mm-mm... Violetberry soup," Cole thought aloud, "My culinary achievement. If the recipe is not followed exactly…"

He took a sip of the broth, only to gag and make a face.

"By the way," Lloyd's voice came from behind him, and he looked to the boy, "I saw Jay spice things up. I told him not to, but he said your cooking could use it. Bye, Cole!"

And, the lad left. When he was gone, Cole instantly spat out the soup.

"Jaaaay!"

(Line break)

Jay, fully suited up in his kendo gear, picked up a remote and pushed a button on it. A funky robot with a handlebar moustache in front of him sparked to life.

Jay put on his helmet and said, "Let's ease our way into this. How 'bout level two, shall we?"

He pushed another button, and the small screen on the robot flashed a '9'.

"Hey, Jay!" Jay heard Lloyd speak from behind him and turned around, "I saw Zane try to repair the sparring 'bot earlier. Isn't that your expertise? Later, bro!"

Lloyd then left.

"Wait! What?" Jay began pushing buttons to try and stop the robot. It, however, kept advancing on the ninja.

"No! Nooooo! Zaaaaane!"

(Line break)

Zane, still in his pajamas, set down the laundry basket and was about to open it, but Lloyd suddenly walked up to him, whistling.

"Hello, Lloyd," Zane greeted the boy, "What brings you up here this fine morning?"

"Aniki wanted me to pick up some ninja suits." The boy answered, "She said she threw them in with your whites."

Lloyd lifted the lid to the basket and brought out Kai's suit, "Here it is! Thanks!"

And, he walked away. Zane contemplated this for a moment, and pulled out his suit: it was pink. His face grew angry.

(Line break)

In their shared room, the ninja were yelling at each other for the "crimes" commented against the other, Jay out of his padding, Zane still in his PJs and Aniki in an orange bath robe, some food bits still in her hair.

"When someone says 'lunch is on me,' that's not suppose ta be a literal statement!"

"You couldn't just be happy with the high score! You had to rub it in my face!"

"You know how long it took me to make that? Three days... _Three days!_"

"It's an unsaid law, okay? You don't touch a man's robot!"

"How am I supposed to strike fear in this? _It's pink!"_

The ninjas started arguing as Sensei Wu walked into their room. He shook his head and opened the door to the bathroom. Lloyd stood behind the door, laughing normally but semi-evilly. A toolbox, a few bottles of spice, a sledgehammer, and pink dye sat at his feet.

Seeing this, the boy stopped laughing and five loud gasps and questioning cries of "You did this!" were heard.

"Guys," Cole said angrily, "I get first dibs on…"

"No dibs!" Lloyd's uncle said firmly, causing the boy to smirk, "_I_ put him up to this for today's lesson. I wanted to show you the disruptive power of rumors, and that jumping to conclusions can only lead to trouble. Did you ever think you find out if the accusations were true?"

"Ah, no offense, Sensei," Cole retorted, "But, lemme jump to this conclusion: Today's lesson is lame."

"Couldn't you at least tell Lloyd that the bathroom is off limits for pranks?!" Aniki snapped, not at all enjoying her "moshu-y shampoo-y."

"Yeah," Jay added, "And why can't you teach us to paralyze your enemy with one finger? Or find out if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?"

"Because not all lessons are about fighting!" the old man snapped, then, in a quieter tone, added, "And I... misplaced my lesson book."

Kai looked at Lloyd with narrowed eyes. He walked up to the boy, who was now smiling innocently, and pulled a book out from his back pocket.

"You mean this lesson book?"

"It was the perfect plan," Lloyd shouted, "Until you had to show up and mess everything …"

Cole shut the bathroom door, muffling Lloyd's voice. He then wiped his hands together.

"If you're done fooling around," Nya said over the loudspeaker, "I could use you guys on the bridge. We do still have a snake problem to attend to... Over and out!"

Aniki growled, "It's one thing to let a ten year old live with you, but having Kai's wimpy sister here? I mean, come on! I thought this was a _ninja_ headquarters!"

"You do know I can hear you…" Nya added, "Over and out!"

(Line break)

Sensei Wu, Lloyd, and the ninjas gathered in the bridge, where Nya was standing in front of the screen.

"Last we heard of Pythor," Nya was saying, "he stole the map of dens from Lloyd, and is now on his way to open the last two Serpentine tombs."

"Uhhhh..." Lloyd groaned, "Don't remind me."

"Pythor's our most dangerous threat," the old man told everyone, "If he finds those tombs before we do, with his intellect and all four tribes unleashed, there's no telling what he'll do."

"But, those tombs could be anywhere!" Jay reminded.

Aniki added, "Without the map of dens, we might as well just throw darts at a map!"

"Good idea!" Nya said cheerily, holding two darts in her hand, "Why don't we?"

She threw the darts at the screen, causing Kai and Aniki to duck to avoid getting hit.

"These are the two locations of the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre tombs..."

"Show-off," Kai muttered.

Nya threw another dart as she walked back to the screen, "And this is Pythor's tomb. After many hours of ruminating on why the tombs were placed in these three precise locations, I discovered a secret pattern..."

While Nya was talking, Jay was smiling dreamily at her, and Aniki was rolling her eyes at the blue ninja's action. Nya took a flashlight out of a drawer under the screen and flicked it on. She shone the light on the screen and snake-like symbol appeared.

"If you notice," Nya concluded, "all three are in line with the Ninjago symbol for 'serpent'."

"So, the last two tombs must here, and here!" Jay walked next to Nya and pointed to two spots on the screen.

He smiled at her, "Oh, you are so smart."

Aniki let her head fall into her hands and shook it. Jay could be such a dupe.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Nya grinned.

"There's little time," Sensei Wu said, "Kai and Jay, you head to the Venomari tomb."

The red and blue ninjas nodded.

"Cole and Zane, you take the Constrictai tomb. And take this," He held up the flute, "You might need it if you run into Pythor."

Cole took the flute.

"Aniki, evacuate the nearby villages, bring anyone you can find into a larger area."

Aniki bowed saying, "Yes Master."

"Good luck, ninja!"

"What am I going to do?" Nya asked.

"Yeah!" Lloyd smiled, "What're we gonna do?"

"Nya, I need you here to make sure Lloyd doesn't get into any more trouble."

"Yes, Sensei," Nya sighed.

"Let's go, team!" Cole said, grinning, "We got some snakes to club!"

The ninjas ran out of the bridge, agreeing loudly with the black ninja. Sensei Wu placed his hands behind his back and sighed.

"Where are you, Pythor? What are you up to?"

(Line break)

Cole and Zane rode swiftly on their vehicles to the Constrictai tomb. Suddenly, with a flash, Cole's vehicle turned back into his scythe, and he landed on the ground, Zane right behind him. Zane took out his shuriken and glanced down. His suit was still pink. He groaned.

"Well," Cole observed, "Our vehicles won't traverse the steps. We'll go the rest of the way on foot."

"But, this is the Mountain of a Million Steps," Zane pointed out, "Aren't we pressed for time?"

"Then we'll take a shortcut."

A few minutes later, Cole was jumping and climbing up the mountain, Zane clinging to his back.

"Am I holding on too tight?" Zane asked.

"Light as a feather, Pinky," Cole grunted.

He hopped over a stairway and kept on going.

"Almost there!"

In a few more jumps, Cole made it to the top. Zane got off his back and the two jumped over the rocks blocking the way. They peered into the cavern at the middle of the ground.

"Looks like Pythor was already here," Zane said, noticing the rope tied to a rock near the hole, "Perhaps we should investigate."

"Gimme a second," Cole panted, "Whew... go on and start without me."

Zane took hold of the rope and slid down it. When he got to the bottom, he landed on a marble platform. He lit a torch and looked around. The pink ninja walked to a nearby wall and ran his eyes over it.

"Huh," Cole hopped down from the rope, "Didn't Mama Snake ever tell em not to draw on the wall?"

"These images describe a legend about one tribe uniting them all," Zane read.

"Well, those snakes had been at war with each other for centuries."

"Well it says here, once they unite, they can find the five Silver Fang-blades that will unleash the Great Devourer: an evil that will consume all of the land, turning day onto night."

Cole raised an eyebrow, "You get all that from those little pictures?"

"This gives me deep concern," Zane said.

While he was talking, the ground behind the two was churned upwards, and the cavern shook slightly.

"If Pythor's not here, and unites all the tribes before Kai and Jay find him…"

"Relax, Zane. They're a bunch of dumb snakes that believe in fairy tales! If anything, we got all the…" The ground crunched under their feet; Cole looked down, "Did you feel that?"

"What?"

"There's something in the ground."

The two turned.

"Don't move."

Suddenly, something huge burst out of the ground behind them and lashed a thick tail around Zane.

"I've been waitin' for you," A deep voice echoed off the cavern walls, "Pythor sends his regards."

A black and orange Constrictai general, that was what got Zane, the two ninjas were in danger.

"Did you stay behind just to tell us that?" Zane choked out, "Pathetic."

"Look who's callin' who pathetic," the snake hissed in Zane's ear, "_Pinky._"

"Only I call him Pinky!" Cole shouted angrily, whipping out his scythe.

He jumped up and brought his weapon down on the ground, causing the snake to let go of Zane.

"Zane go for the rope!" Cole shouted.

The ninja of ice nodded and began running towards the platform. He was about to grab the rope, but a yell from Cole made him turn.

"Cole?" Zane called.

The snake and black ninja were gone.

"Whoaaaaaa!" Cole flew from the ground and landed on his rear.

Zane watched as the ground rumbled and moved again. A line of rocks marked where the snake was. The rocks headed for Cole, who backed away and took out the flute. He lifted his hood and put the flute to his lips. Instantly, a soft, sweet music filled the air. The snake burst out of the ground and roared, then wrapped his tail swiftly around Cole, who let out a cry.

"Zane," Cole choked, "Zane!"

He yelled in pain and dropped the flute.

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Zane spun into his tornado, though now it was pink, and swirled towards the flute.

He picked it up and began playing it. The snake sharply stuck a hand under Zane's hood and grabbed his throat. Zane struggled to lift off his hood again, and he blew into the flute. The snake gripped his throat harder, causing his vision to blur. He took in as much air as he could, and blew out again. The snake yelled and let go of the two ninjas.

"Wrap your head around this!" Cole picked up his scythe and hit the snake with it, knocking him to the ground.

Zane panted, "Good one."

"Thanks," Cole put his scythe on his back, "But, he was expecting us. We better get Aniki, I think Kai and Jay are walking into a trap!"

He and Zane ran to the rope.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!"

(Line break)

Kai and Jay sped over a swamp. Jay flew in his jet and Kai rode on his motorcycle. With two bright flashes, the vehicles disappeared and the two ninjas landed on the ground.

"Eww!" Jay put a hand over his nose as they walked up to the bubbling, murky water.

"Hey, it's not me," Kai said, "We're in the Toxic Bogs. This stuff'll eat through you worse than Cole's chili."

He put a stick in the acidic water. When he pulled it out, the tip was singed off; definitely worse than the chili. Jay nodded and hopped onto a tree. The other two followed him, and they began swinging on vines and hopping across trees to the Venomari tomb. They suddenly landed in front of a giant tree. They walked towards the tree. Jay pressed down on a piece of bark, and part of the tree disappeared, releasing green smoke.

"P-U!" Jay coughed.

His words echoed into the dark hole now in the tree, "_P-U, P-U, P-U.._."

The blue ninja laughed.

Kai sighed, "Let's just make this quick before Pythor gets here."

Jay walked farther into the hole, and Kai noticed that something else was there. He stepped back and looked around, then spotted it crouching at the water's edge. He walked to it and Jay interrupted him.

"This place looks empty. We must've just missed him," Jay turned back into the tree, "Check this out: They say you're the Green Ninja, but I say I am!"

_"I am, I am, I am..."_

"I am!"

_"I am! I am! I am..."_

He laughed. Kai continued what he was doing. He walked around for a few seconds, inspecting the bog. Just then, a loud croak made them both whip out him Golden Weapon and point it at what at made the noise: a frog.

"Oh, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that," Kai sighed. The frog hopped onto a lily pad in the water. "Heh, if I weren't such well-trained nin-"

He was interrupted by the lily pad rising out of the water. Kai gasped, for the lily pad wasn't a lily pad at all. It was a snake. The snake cackled and shot venom into the red ninjas' face, causing him to close his eyes and stumble back. They became a bright green; as Kai looked around, his vision swirling.

"Jay!" he called out.

"No, I'm the real Jay!" Jay shouted into the hole.

_"No, I'm the real Jay! No, I'm the real Jay! No, I'm the real Jay..."_

More Venomari snakes climbed out of the acidic water and lurched towards the red and yellow ninjas. The two swung their weapons around wildly, before collapsing on the ground at the same time. For Kai, the snakes were turning into gnomes and walking gingerbread men.

"Oh! This is not good!" Kai yelled, "Jay!"

Jay turned away from the hole and walked towards the ninja, only to find Venomari snakes closing in on him, and the other ninja cowering out of fear.

"There's so many!" Kai whimpered, "Elves and gingerbread people everywhere!"

"Okay, I don't know what you're seeing," Jay remarkedd, taking out his nun-chucks and spinning them around, "But this is no time to lose yourself. I need you!"

"I never fought little people before!" Kai shouted, "We're toast!"

Just then, Cole, Aniki, and Zane flew out of the trees on their vehicles. Their weapons transformed back, and they landed on the ground.

"Anyone order a little kick-butt?" Cole yelled.

"_Butt, butt, butt..."_

Jay laughed.

"Boo!" Pythor suddenly burst out from behind the huge tree, scaring Jay.

Zane put away his shuriken and took out the flute. He lifted his hood and began playing the flute, but Pythor lashed his long tail around it and pulled it away.

"Oh," he said, lifting it to his face and examining it, "let's not let music ruin things, hmm?"

Kai stood up, now focused on Pythor, and joined Jay, Zane, Aniki, and Cole. The Venomari closed in on the ninjas, forcing them back towards the bog. When they reached the edge, the five hopped backwards onto a fallen tree. The tree started sinking in the acid.

"Oh, I've got a sinking feeling," Pythor observed, "This may be the last I see of you five."

He cackled. The ninjas looked at the Constrictai snakes that had joined the Venomari.

"That's it," Cole spat, "I used to hate dragons, but now, I officially hate snakes!"

"Join the club," Aniki answered, "do you have any idea how many villages I had ta rescue from these freaks!?"

"Wait," Kai slurred. "Do you see that?"

"What?!" Aniki snapped.

"A magic floating rope…We can climb to safety!"

He walked towards empty air, but Jay pulled him back.

"Boy, that Venomari venom is some powerful stuff!" Jay remarked.

The snakes on shore began laughing at the ninjas. This appeared to be it, no more ninja, no grand fancy battle, just five friends on a log, sinking into the most corrosive place in all of Ninjago.

"For whatever it is worth," Zane spoke up, "It was an honor to fight beside you all."

"I wish we were real siblings," Aniki agreed.

"Me too," Cole added.

"Yeah," Jay nodded, "Ditto."

Then, a rope dropped down in front of them.

"Hey, what?" Cole asked.

"The magic rope," Kai mumbled.

"Quick!" Jay ordered, "Everyone, climb over!"

The forest rumbled then, without warning, and a large robot-like thing descended from the sky. It landed and shot a net from its hand, capturing some of the snakes. The rest of the snakes fled, with the Venomari diving into the acid and the Constrictai burrowing into the ground. Pythor watched for a moment, and then glared at the robot, who pointed a threatening hand towards him.

"Oh, dear," Pythor backed away.

The robot's torso lowered, revealing a human dressed in armor.

"Pythor... Target confirmed," he said in a robotic voice, "Time to bag... And tag."

Pythor turned quickly and slithered away. The warrior raised a wrist and shot a dart into the snake's rear end. Pythor shrieked and slithered to his left, disappearing from view. The ninjas hopped down from the tree and watched the warrior, who hopped out of his robot.

"Who are you?" Cole asked.

"How about the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Jay exclaimed.

"Santa?" Kai mumbled deliriously.

"Yes, stupid," Aniki said sarcastically, "It's Saint Nick in the flesh."

"Thank you, mysterious warrior," Zane walked up to the warrior and bowed, "I owe you my life for saving…"

The warrior sprayed a blue mist onto Zane, and the pink ninja fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Hey, that wasn't nice!" Jay said.

But, the warrior just did the same to him, Cole, Kai, and Aniki. The four fell to the ground, just like Zane had. The warrior pressed a button on his wrist, which made a rope shoot out of the robot and bring him back into it. The robot's torso went back into place and it flew away. When it had gone entirely, a spotlight from the _Bounty _shone down onto the ground, illuminating the golden weapons on the ninjas' backs.

(Line break)

"So, then, just when we were gonna bite it," Jay was saying, "This huge mechanical robot came…"

"Samurai," Zane interrupted, "It was samurai."

"A samu-what?" Lloyd turned to Zane with a confused look on his face.

"_Samurai_," the elder explained, "Highest level of warrior class. They would protect nobility, and serve with honor on the battlefield."

"He was a hundred feet high," Kai said, still hallucinating, "With weapons coming out every part of him. An…"

Kai stopped talking and leaned in close to Cole, whispering, "Look at Sensei's beard. _It's moving like snakes_."

Nya shook her head, "When is this Venomari spit s'posed to wear off? It's starting to get annoying."

Kai stuck a dumpling to his cheek ; Zane, Lloyd, and Jay, who were sitting across from the ninja, looked at him weirdly.

"Okay, don't let this mysterious samurai cloud what's really important!" Cole reminded them, "All the Serpentine are out. And if Pythor can unite them, the legend states some Great Devourer is gonna consume the land and…"

"Great Devourer? That sounds like a garbage can brand," Aniki smirked.

"Whatever it is, it's a can of worms I don't wanna see open."

Lloyd moaned and put his head in his hands, "Oh, it's all my fault! If I hadn't opened the first hatch, none of this would've happened."

"We cannot change the past," Sensei Wu said, "But, we can affect the future! At least we have the Sacred Flute in our possession, so…"

"Yeah… Heh -heh," Jay tipped over his cup, "About that..."

"Pythor... sort of... stole it," Zane confessed.

"The last Sacred Flute?" their mentor gasped, "Gone?"

He sighed, "You five are Ninjago's last hope."

Suddenly, a loud, ear-piercing alarm broke through the room, snapping Kai out of his Venomari trance.

"Cold Vision must've caught something!" Nya exclaimed, "That means the Serpentine are near!"

"Oh, no!" Cole said, "Ninjago City?"

The group of eight got off their chairs and ran to the bridge.

"How many are there?" Jay asked.

"Looks like all of them," Aniki answered.

"Pythor must be trying to unite them," Zane realized.

"Go!" the sensei ordered, "We mustn't let the five tribes unite!"

The ninjas ran out of the bridge, and with five cries of "Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Cole, Jay, Aniki, and Zane changed into their suits. Zane sighed; his suit was still pink.

"I must get this taken care of," he said.

Kai swirled clumsily around the room before coming out of his tornado and falling to the ground.

"Don't worry," Jay walked to the fire ninja and winked at him, "It'll wear off soon. For now, you're comin' with me."

He grabbed Kai's hands and pulled him up.

(Line break)

Kai yelled as Jay jumped over the edge of the Bounty, Jay gripping the former's back. Cole, Aniki, and Zane followed suit. Jay pulled out his nun-chucks and swung them around, effectively placing him and Kai in the jet.

"Ah," Cole sighed, "I love the smell of land hurtling towards you in the middle of the night!"

Zane blinked, and Aniki shook her head and stared at the black ninja. When they had fallen a little further, Cole took out his scythe and transformed it. Zane took out his shuriken and they transformed as well. Aniki followed suit, ending up in the helicopter. The boys fell even farther, and Zane went as far as driving down the side of a building. He then landed on the ground and Zane's motorcycle reverted back to shuriken. Cole landed with a thud and whipped around their weapons while Kai and Jay fell from the jet, which changed back into nun-chucks, and Aniki landed her vehicle like an expert pilot.

The ninjas looked around in amazement as they walked down the alley they had fallen in.

"Ninjago City," Kai breathed, now cured of the venom.

"Amazing," Zane gasped.

"I've always heard stories of this place," Aniki said.

"Biggest city in all of Ninjago," Jay said as he looked around, "I've always wanted to come here."

"Yeah, I always dreamed of being on a billboard here," Cole grinned.

"You too?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, I did, too." Kai nodded.

"I was once when I put myself on a Missing Person's Program," Aniki admitted, "that only lasted a month."

"Uh, but may I remind you," Zane spoke, looking at his teammates, "where are the snakes? We should be standing in the middle of a massive Serpentine gathering."

He and the other four looked down at a smoking manhole.

"Ugh," Cole groaned, "I hate snakes."

(Line break)

Just below them, group of the four tribes and the sole member of the Anacondri was gathered in an abandoned subway station. Pythor examined himself in the window of one of the trains, his tongue flicking out occasionally.

"You'll have to use more than wordsssss to bring the Serpentine together."

Pythor turned to see Skales behind him.

"All I have to do is show them the way," Pythor hissed.

"They're ready for you, Pythor," the Venomari leader, Acidicus, said.

"Ah," Pythor slithered towards the large crowd of Serpentine, "Show time."

He climbed up the middle train and looked over the crowd.

"Friends," the snake began, "Enemies... and enemies who pretend to be friends."

The Serpentine cackled a strange combination of a laugh and a hiss.

"I welcome you..."

The five ninjas ran along the catwalk and stared at the huge crowd.

"That's a lot of snakes," Cole muttered.

"What're we gonna do?" Jay whispered.

"I have an idea," Kai said quietly, "Follow my lead."

His teammates did so as he ran away.

(Line break)

"…what is it with the Constrictai and their vice-like grip," Pythor was saying, "_Let it go, already!"_

The crowds laugh/hissed again.

"It's funny," one Fangpyre snake said to the Hypnobrai snake next to him, "because it's so true!"

Pythor chuckled and continued, "But, in all seriousness, the reason why I called you here to this gathering is because... the good people of Ninjago imprisoned us in those insidious tombs. And, I want to return them the favor!"

The Serpentine cheered, meanwhile Kai slid down a rope behind the crowd, unseen.

"That sounds like a great plan," he said, "But, you know the Hypnobrai'll screw it up."

"Who said that?" One of the Hypnobrai hissed angrily.

"Those buck-teeth can bite my rear end!" Jay leaned over behind the Fangpyre.

"I bet they're drinking their own venom," Cole stood behind a post.

"All that digging must've given them dirt-for-brains!" Zane hung from a rope.

Aniki called out in a snake-ish voice, "Why ssshould we follow an sssnake without a tribe? Pythor'sss an idiot, anywaysss."

The ninjas watched as the Serpentine began fighting among themselves.

"What's going on?" Pythor demanded, "Why am I losing them?"

Skales shook his head, then spotted the bright orange cloth of Aniki's uniform.

"Ninja!" he said, pointing to the girl with his staff, "Don't worry; I'll take care of it."

(Line break)

Cole watched the fighting for a moment, the yelped and disappeared. The same happened to Kai and Aniki. Jay and Zane, who were behind the two, started, then noticed the trail of cracked tile coming towards them. The ninjas turned to run, but only Zane got away as three Constrictai snakes popped up and surrounded Jay.

Zane turned as Jay shrieked, "Ruuuuuun!"

Zane began running to his teammate, but quickly turned again and went the other way as more snakes jumped up from the ground and advanced on him. He turned down a hallway and ran towards the exit. But, it was chained up- Zane couldn't escape. The pink ninja looked around, then pressed himself up against a wall and shut his eyes tightly. Would this work? ...No, not even the Serpentine were that dumb. He heard footsteps come closer... closer... then, they were gone.

Zane opened his eyes in surprise and looked down the hallway. None of the Serpentine were there. He glanced at the wall he had hidden on and was surprised to find that it was an almost completely pink ad for _**Sitar Legend**_, a video game that they already owned. He raised his arms and noticed that his suit and the ad were almost the exact same shade of pink.

(Line break)

Pythor glared at the fighting crowd, and then turned to Skales.

"Did you take care of them?" he hissed.

"All but one," Skales motioned to one of his snakes to open the broom closet they were standing guard over.

"You freaks won't get away this!" Aniki's voice was heard.

Inside the closet were four of the five ninjas, bound in ropes. But, the pink one was still missing.

"Search every nook and cranny," Pythor ordered in a deadly voice, all humorous emotions gone, "If he's a ninja, you'll never find him in plain sight!"

"Look!" one of Skalidor's snakes cried, "A pink ninja!"

Above them, Zane flew in on a rope.

"Go, pink ninja, go!" The ninjas yelled.

Zane flew off the rope he was swing on and knocked Pythor and Skales off the train. He jumped and flipped to his teammates, then took out his shurikens and sliced off their ropes.

"Now!" he said, "Let's get out of here!"

The five jumped onto ropes and swung over the crowd of infuriated Serpentine. They landed on the catwalk and ran out of the room, into a hallway. Half of the crowd chased after them.

"Let us blow this popsicle stand!" Zane yelled, "Ninjaaaaa-Go!"

He swirled into a pink tornado and spun forward.

"Popsicle stand," Jay repeated, "Ha-ha! I like it!"

"Good one Zane!" Aniki applauded,

Zane halted and took out his shurikens. He held them out and ice shot out from one of the three tips on the twin weapons. The rest of the hallway was coated in ice in less than six seconds. The pink ninja then transformed his shurikens into the motorcycle and his teammates swiftly jumped onto it. Jay ended up in the back.

Zane revved the engine and sped down the hallway, leaving the Serpentine far behind. Along the way, Jay tumbled from his perch on the motorcycle and had to grab the exhaust pipes to stay on. Zane just kept speeding forward, unaware of his friend's problem. Aniki gripped Jay's arm, keeping the blue ninja with her and the other three. Meanwhile, the Serpentine were having a difficult time walking or slithering on the ice. Pythor slipped suddenly and fell to the ice with a yell. His face burned with embarrassment and fury.

"You have to do," Skales grunted, holding Pythor's wrist and pulling him up, "ugh, better than that to... Agh... unite the tribes!"

"Get your hands off me!" Pythor shouted, startling Skales so much that the Hypnobrai leader cowered.

(Line break)

A few hours later, the ninjas, Sensei Wu, and Nya sat at the table in the small dining room, halfway through the food set out for dinner.

"Y'know," Cole said, "whether it was in the lesson book or not, we used the destructive power of rumors to our advantage."

"And now the Serpentine are further away than ever from getting their act together," Kai grinned.

"Y'know, I don't think we would've gotten out of there if it hadn't been for Zane," Jay pointed out.

"Don't thank me," Zane said, "Thank Lloyd. If it hadn't been for his 'laundry skills' we all would've been found."

The entire team burst into laughter, especially at Zane's air quotes.

"Speaking of Lloyd," Nya announced, "I had a real plumber fix the shower, so no more lunch bathes for you guys."

"Good thing too," Aniki laughed, "I didn't know what smelled worse, the Toxic Bogs, the sewers, or me."

Everyone laughed again. Then, the door to the dining room slid open, and Lloyd walked in.

"Well," the boy said, carrying a pile of Zane's clothing, "it took me twenty loads, but your suit's no longer pink. And to show that I'm sorry, Cole, I got you a can of nuts."

The black ninja looked at him as Lloyd pulled a little can out of his back pocket, similar to the one he had used when he and the male ninja first met.

"Oh, heh- heh, yeah," Cole got out of his seat and walked to the boy, "Don't think I don't see what this is. When I open this, a bunch of snakes're gonna pop out, right? Yeah, no thank you."

He walked to the fridge and opened it. Dozens of plastic snakes burst out, causing Cole to yell in fright and fall to the floor. Everyone, including Cole, laughed once more.


	10. Snake King

**Note: I will not go into much detail concern the snakes.**

(Line break)

Far out in the desert, Pythor and Skales were digging away at a hole thirty or forty feet deep. They had spent a good three days digging out the hole, and Pythor was not about to stop now; he was on a mission to avenge his race, all of his race. Skales, on the other hand, had only agreed to come so he can say "I told you so" when the whole thing blew up in the Anacondrai's face.

But then, Pythor stuck his shovel in the sand, about to scoop another pound away, but the metal struck something hard. The two snakes started, and then Pythor smoothed the rest of the sand away, revealing a circular object. He chuckled darkly, sending a slight shiver through Skales' bones.

"Skales," Pythor said, "I believe we've found it."

The purple snake reached down and twisted the middle of the circle. The sand around the two began swirling, uncovering the ruins of a large city. Pillars rose from the sand, as well as half-complete temples and broken statues. Skales looked around with large eyes, while Pythor's own eyes glittered evilly.

"I present to you," Pythor announced, "the city _formerly_ known as the Lost City of Ouroboros!"

(Line break)

The Bounty rose from white, fluffy clouds, the twin rockets pouring out flames. Behind the ship, a mailman was flying on a bicycle with wings. As he pedaled, the wings flapped, allowing him to fly.

"Wait!" the man cried, holding out a flat package, "Slow down! I have a package for Sensei Wu!"

(Line break)

Inside the ship, the ninjas, Nya, and Lloyd sat at the dining table, eating lunch, when the old man walked into the room, carrying his package. For the past few weeks, Lloyd had been sharing a lot of memories and ideas on how he was going to help beat Pythor and the other snakes.

"First, I'll stomp on his tail," Lloyd was saying, "Then, when he turns, a thunder-clap to his ears! Then, when he's stunned, I'll disarm him!"

"Too late!" Cole crowed, "He's already hypnotized you and now, you're under his control!"

"Or, he's already put you in a squeeze," Zane added.

"Or he bit you and now you're turning into one of them," Aniki jumped in, rubbing the boy's hair.

"Or spit on you with his hallucinatory venom," Kai said, making hand motions, "Trust me: bad stuff."

Lloyd whined, "Uncle, what's the best way to stun a Serpentine if you don't know what kind they are?"

The elder sighed, "Sadly, it was the Sacred Flute you five carelessly lost…"

"Ah-ah-ah-ah!" Jay interrupted, "We didn't lose it!"

"Yeah'" Aniki reminded, "Pythor stole it."

"Whatever the case," the sensei said, pouring a cup of tea, "without it, I fear we have nothing to combat their powers. We may have prevented them from uniting in the past, but they will try again. And one day, they will be stronger."

"Don't worry, Sensei," Cole assured him, "I've almost reached my full potential. And, when I become the Green Ninja, we're not gonna need any magic flute."

"You're gonna be the Green Ninja?" Kai gave him a look, "Ha-ha-ha! Don't make me laugh."

"Wrong!" Aniki stuck an accusing finger at Kai and gave him a playful grin, "_I'm_ gonna be the Green Ninja, guys. We all know that. Super powers rule!"

"I thought it was decided that I was destined to be the Green Ninja," Zane broke in.

Jay laughed and put a hand on Zane's shoulder, "The only thing decided about you, Zane is that you're weird."

The ninjas began arguing once again.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lloyd got out of his seat and walked to his uncle, "What's in the box?"

Sensei Wu stood and took the lid off the package and replied, "Your new uniforms."

He pushed the package to the middle of the table. Jay let out an excited gasp. The five eagerly pulled their new suits out of the box and began praising the styles.

"They've got, like, armor!" Jay shouted.

"I love the gold highlights!" Kai said.

"Battle claws!" Cole yelled.

"Now this I can be seen in. Yeah!" Aniki screamed.

"The material is really light and breathable." Zane looked over his uniform.

"Aw..." Lloyd looked disappointed, "Nothing for me?"

"Um..." the old man thought for a moment, "You get, uh... the box."

Lloyd's face fell, until Aniki cut in and tossed a smaller box to the boy, "Here ya go, Lloyd, chocolate-covered strawberries Jay's parents sent us yesterday."

"Thanks Aniki!" Lloyd shouted and ran to hug her.

Jay on the other hand was confused, "I thought you already ate them."

"You boys know sugar gives me nightmares!" the orange ninja snapped.

"Yeah the whole ship shakes then," Nya joked.

Suddenly, the alarm went off and red lights began pulsing rapidly. The group ran out of the room instantly and raced into the bridge.

"Sorry to break up the moment, guys," Cole noted, checking a screen, "but, a small fraction of our slithering friends are stirring up trouble over at Mega Monster Amusement Park."

"Amusement park?!" Lloyd cried eagerly, "Can I go? Can I go with you, please? Let me make things up! I can help!"

He jumped around the room, giving everyone puppy-dog eyes. Aniki almost gave in, but her master prevented her from saying her decision.

"I'm sorry, nephew," the sensei said, "You will stay here, where it's safe.

"Awww..." Lloyd complained, "Ninja get all the fun."

He didn't have much of an intention of actually fighting, he just wanted to watch the snakes get their tails kicked, especially Pythor, that one made him so mad.

"Whaddya say guys?" Jay held up his suit, "Time to try out the new merchandise?"

The five began fawning over the suits again.

(Line break)

The ninjas stood at the edge of the Bounty, now wearing the new uniforms. Kai's new suit was a blazing red with flame designs on the ends of the sleeves and had a small red upper jacket and double belt. Jay's suit was a bright blue with white bolt designs on one sleeve and the other sleeve was plated with steel. Zane wore a white suit and had a brown cover on the end of the shirt. Cole had on a suit that was black and had a brown open jacket. And Aniki's suit was orange with brown sleeves and a chest-belt and looked more like a short kimono and pants set. Cole and Jay had silver highlights on their suits, while Kai, Aniki, and Zane had golden highlights.

"This new stuff feels like it'll really protect us!" Cole fawned.

"It provides more mobility," Zane agreed.

"You wanna strut your stuff on the catwalk," Jay asked, "or get down to that amusement park so we can go on some rides?!"

"Yeah… forget about the Serpentine," Aniki replied with her usual sarcastic and mocking tone.

"I love a good old-fashioned roller-coaster," Kai answered, "but nothing beats this!"

With wild yells and shouts, the five jumped over the edge and transformed their weapons. They streaked down the sky swiftly, trailing white and black smoke behind them. Just before they hit a roof, the vehicles reverted back into weapons and the ninjas jumped off the roof and landed on the ground, then walked away from the little building they had fallen on.

"Ha-ha, check that out!" Cole said proudly, "And not a scratch on me."

The ninjas' attention was suddenly moved to a large, screaming crowd.

"Ha-ha!" Jay puffed out his chest slightly, "Ladies, relax, relax! We have arrived!"

Aniki snorted, "Are you an idiot? Wait, let me rephrase that: you're an idiot! They're not paying any attention to us, Jay. Look."

The energy mistress gently brushed aside some people and pointed to what everybody was gathered around: Half-dozen snakes that were tied up, struggling and writhing.

"What just happened?" Kai asked, bewildered.

"Oh, you totally missed it," a girl next to him said a slightly nasally voice, "There were, like, icky snakes, and then this mysterious samurai came in and saved everyone."

"He was, like, gorgeous," another girl said dreamily.

"You saw his face?"

"Nah, but, we could totally tell."

Just then, Nya came up from behind them and handed the two girls ice cream cones.

"Nya!" Jay straightened up, "You're here!"

"Yeah!" She smiled,"Oh, you just missed all the action! He just flew in, took care of business, and then flew off! It was pretty cool."

"Don' wanna be a ninja!" The six turned to see a little boy trying to escape from his mother's grip, "I wanna be a samurai!"

Two men walked by, one of them saying, "Samurai's my new hero!"

"Y'know, the samurai can kick the ninjas' butts!" A teenager said.

Aniki materialized a shield with sharp edges and threw it in the air yelling "Wanna bet?!"

Zane patted Aniki's shoulder, "You do not like samurais, do you?"

"They're everything ninja aren't: stuck-up, greedy, fat-headed, and… and…" Aniki was saying until she growled and muttered something her friends couldn't hear, but Zane guessed it was more very unkind things towards samurai in giant, robotic suits.

"Who is this guy?" Kai frowned.

"Whoever he is, he's stealing our thunder!" Cole observed.

"Ninja protect Ninjago," Aniki added, "not samurai!"

"And we just got these cool, new ninja suits!" Jay complained, then crossed his arms and scoffed, "I'm gonna say it: I hate samurai!"

"Do I hear a hint of jealousy?" They turned again and saw Sensei Wu walking toward them, a cone of cotton candy in his hand, "Maybe this can be a lesson for you."

Jay groaned, "Not another les…. Hey! How'd you get here so quick?"

"The lesson is: iron sharpens iron."

"Zah?" Aniki asked.

"I do not follow, Sensei," Zane admitted.

"Healthy competition can help you reach your true potential faster," the elder explained as he walked forward and his students moved to let him pass, "Do not be jealous of this samurai. Let it inspire you."

Then the sensei's gaze landed on one of the rides, "Ooh! Ferris Wheel!"

He began running towards it, startling a few girls in the process.

"_Inspire_?" Jay narrowed his eyes.

"Wait a minute," Kai said, "Maybe the old man's right."

"You want us to compete with the samurai?" Cole asked in disbelief, "He's got all the cool gadgets; we don't stand a chance!"

"No, not with him," Kai clarified, "With us! I say we turn this into our own competition. Whichever of us is skilled enough to catch this mysterious samurai…"

He whipped out his sword, scaring a passing man.

"…is probably the best of the bunch."

"So, whoever learns the identity of the samurai," Jay realized excitedly, "is the one who'll become the destined Green Ninja! Ha!"

He pulled his nun chucks from his back.

"I love it!"

"Then, it's a bet," Cole raised a fist, "May the Green Ninja win!"

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" the five yelled.

(Line break)

"Multiple snake sightings!" Nya cried, "They're everywhere!"

And the five ninjas set off to the different snake locations.

(Line break)

Zane sped down a snowy mountain, towards a village where the Hypnobrai were terrifying the residents. He pulled over, and was about to hop off, but the sight that greeted him made the white ninja stop.

"Huh?"

The samurai and his suit were standing not twenty feet away, a group of Serpentine tied up at his feet. The samurai let out a robotic laugh and flew away.

"Metal menace," Zane grumbled as he got off his motorcycle and threw a snowball at the samurai.

(Line break)

Kai rushed towards three Constrictai snakes, his golden sword pointed out.

"Go, ninja, go!" A group of junior-high girls cheered him on.

But, of course, the samurai showed up out of nowhere and snatched up the snakes.

"Oh, samurai," The girls blushed and began fawning over the human inside the robot, one girl's hands making a heart.

Kai scowled and swirled into his tornado, only to be attacked by the samurai.

"Agh! Hey, what's going on?" he yelled as the samurai picked him up.

(Line break)

Cole jumped into a cave as the samurai fought off a few snakes.

"Now I've got you!" the black ninja yelled.

He hopped onto the robot's arm and laughed, only for the samurai to shoot the arm off. Cole smacked straight into a rocky wall.

(Line break)

Aniki advanced on the Venomari snakes in front of her, forming a ball of pure orange energy in her hands. She crouched down and was about to blast the ball, but a large "BOOM!" behind her forced the female ninja to turn around. The samurai stood behind her, a metal arm raised in a teasing greeting.

The samurai then shot a net towards the snakes, capturing them, and flew off with the Serpentine.

"Get back here you coward! Fight like a man!" she snarled, nearly breaking her voice.

(Line break)

Jay stood at the edge of a railroad, dressed in a pink dress and holding a blond wig. He placed the wig on his light brown hair and lay down on the tracks.

"Help!" he called in a high-pitched voice, trying to mimic a girl, "Samurai! Where are you? Oh!"

The samurai landed next to him, holding a few wooden tracks. Before Jay knew it, the samurai had placed the tracks around the blue ninja, and the train had zoomed by on those tracks.

Jay yelled angrily as the samurai flew off, "Stupid samurai!"

(Line break)

Kai sped down the road of a small city on his motorcycle, Lloyd sitting just behind him.

"Okay," Kai said as Lloyd hopped off, "I know it's my turn to look after you, but just play a few games and stay put while I look around."

The red ninja handed the younger boy a few coins.

"I have a feeling the samurai may show up."

"Lemme help!"

"No."

"Come on! At least drop me off at a decent arcade..."

"Sorry, shorty!"

And with that, Kai drove off.

"Kai! Wait!" Lloyd cried.

He coughed the motorcycle's exhaust out of his throat and looked around. Was this really the best Kai could do? He grumbled and headed for the arcade door, but stopped as soon as he heard snake-like voices. He peered down the alley next to the arcade and listened carefully.

"Impossible," The strange, accented voice of a Fangpyre reached Lloyd's ears, "The lost city does not exist."

What... what were the Serpentine doing here?

"It isn't lost anymore..."

Lloyd froze. That was Skales' voice.

"…And I hear there's gonna be a fight!"

"Count me in!"

Lloyd narrowed his eyes and crept down the alley, trying to keep silent. He peeked around the corner at the end of the alley and watched the Serpentine.

"All aboard!" Skales called, standing next to a green bus, "Next ssssstop, Ouroboros!"

Lloyd turned and walked back to the arcade. He looked up and froze again. Inside the arcade's window was a Hypnobrai scout costume set. Lloyd thought quickly, and in a matter of minutes, he was racing back down the alley, wearing the costume. He hopped onto the first step of the bus, but Skales topped him.

"Hey! You!" the snake said, "Hold it there!"

Lloyd gulped and backed up.

"Last one in closes the door!" Skales said cheerily.

"Uh, shhhhh-ure thing," Lloyd said.

He was safe, for now. The boy closed the door behind him and took a seat in the back. Skales started the engine and drove out of the alley, then out of the city.

(Line break)

Lloyd watched for hours as the bus drove over sand, sand, and more sand. He began to get bored, and entertained himself with the last piece of chocolate strawberry Aniki gave him. He raised it to his mouth, but then, he looked out the window again and the sweet fell from his fingers. Statues of snakes and the Serpentine were all around the bus. Temples and ruins stood proudly behind them. Serpentine were everywhere.

...He was in for it now!

(Line break)

"I bring you together to the Lost City of Ouroboros!" Pythor addressed the large crowd, "Before the statue of our very own... Great Devourer! To speak of unity and…"

"Where are the fights?" one of the Constrictai yelled.

"Where is the big show?" a Venomari snake demanded.

The crowd began chanting, "Sli-ther-pit! Sli-ther-pit! Sli-ther-pit!"

With an angry yell, Pythor leaped into the middle of the arena. "

You want a show? You want to see a fight? I ask for your allegiance, but you will not give it! So, I will take it!"

He slithered towards the generals of the other four tribes, who were at the other end of the arena. Skales had managed to slip in without anyone noticing.

"What are you saying?" Fangtom hissed.

"I challenge the four tribe generals for their staffs and their allegiance!" Pythor narrowed his eyes, "At once!"

The audience's cheering grew louder.

"I fought hard for this staff!" Acidicus hissed, "And will not give it up so easily!"

"There's no way he can defeat the four of us at once!" Skalidor declared.

The short snake swiped at Pythor with his staff. Acidicus joined in, as well as Fangtom and Skales, though the Hypnobrai general was merely acting. They each lashed out with their staffs, until all but Skales jumped onto Pythor, effectively pinning the Anacondrai down. Skales pulled out the Sacred Flute and handed it to Pythor, who pressed it to his fangs and began playing it. Soft, sweet music filled the air, causing Fangtom, Acidicus, and Skalidor to wince in pain and clamber off the Anacondrai.

"Oh!" Lloyd, who was still disguised and up in the stands, froze. "He's using the Sacred Flute against his own!"

"My ears!" Skalidor shouted.

"It hurts!" Acidicus yelled.

Skales threw down his staff and Pythor took the rest of the staffs by force.

"Bow to your master," Pythor ordered his voice low and deadly.

Then, throwing the staffs back to their owners, his voice rose, "Bow to your master, Serpentine!"

He put the staffs in front of him as every snake bowed, even the generals. Lloyd attempted a bow, but his Hypnobrai hat slipped. In his haste to tug it back into place, the maracas that gave him the sound of a snake fell from his grasp to the sand below.

Pythor looked up.

Lloyd squeaked and tried to get away, but the Hypnobrai snake next to him grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him, saying, "Where d'you think you're going?"

The rest of the boy's costume fell off.

Pythor hissed in disbelief, "Lloyd?"

(line break)

"Trying to find out the samurai's identity is more of a nuisance than the snakes!"

Nya and the ninjas were seated at the dining table, discussing various things. But, mostly, the ninjas talked about the samurai. They all spoke with a tone that made Nya visibly uncomfortable.

"Any luck with you?" Cole asked, turning to Jay, who was at the end of the table.

"The guy's elusive," Jay sighed, "He's like a ghost. One moment he's there, the next, he's gone."

"He always manages to escape from us," Aniki muttered, still focused on her drawing, one of many she made of horrible things happening to the show-boater; this one was one where the samurai was being dissected by slug-like aliens.

"I'm starting to believe we may never catch him," Zane's eyes were downcast.

"I think it's safe to say none of us're closer to proving we're the Green Ninja," Kai set down his cup.

The door suddenly slid open, and Sensei Wu walked in, his head bowed and his hands clasped behind his back.

"Looks like iron is sharpening iron," he said, looking at his students and walked to Cole, "I feel you getting closer to your true potential."

He patted the black ninja's arm.

"Ow!" Cole said softly, pulling away his arm.

"Where is my nephew?" the mentor then asked, mostly to Kai, "I thought you were looking after him."

"I thought Cole was gonna pick him up," Kai answered.

"I went to the arcade, but he wasn't there," Cole reported, "Jay was…"

"Don't bring me into this!" the blue ninja snapped, "I babysat yesterday!"

"Sensei," Zane said, looking up, "We have not seen him."

"You dorks lost him?!" Aniki shrieked.

"We must find the boy," Their teacher's eyes became slightly worried.

(line break)

Kai streaked down the street where he had dropped off Lloyd, his four teammates close behind. Their vehicles transformed back into the Golden Weapons and they walked to the arcade.

"Lloyd?" Kai pushed open the door and peered inside, "Lloyd?"

He turned to the others, saying, "He was right here! Someone must've seen him."

Cole looked up and spotted a security camera, "Hey, guys! Check this out!"

(Line break)

The five looked over the camera's film in the police station just a few blocks from the camera.

"Oh, Wait, wait!" Jay said suddenly, "There's the pipsqueak!"

The screen showed Lloyd walking down a sidewalk.

"Play that back!" Aniki ordered.

Zane re-winded the tape and played it again. The on-screen Lloyd peered around the corner, and then walked into the store next to the arcade. Zane fast-forwarded it a bit until Lloyd walked back out, now decked out in a Hypnobrai-like costume. He turned down the alley and disappeared from the camera's sight.

"What is he up to?" the orange ninja muttered.

(Line break)

They walked down the alley Lloyd had gone down and followed the boy's tiny footprints.

"I sense these are Lloyd's footprints," Zane remarked as they exited the alley and came to a stop in front of a little road.

"No really?!" Aniki mockingly snapped, "I thought they were mine!"

Ignoring her, Zane noted, "But, they come to an end here. Why?"

"Something tells me we're going for a ride," Kai pointed at the tire trails in the dirt road. "Come on, guys!"

The ninjas began running down the road, now following the trails. With a flash of bright light, they were seated on or in their vehicles, with Jay in his jet, Kai on his motorcycle, Zane on his snow bike, Aniki in her helicopter, and Cole in his tread assault. In just a matter of minutes, they were out of the city and in the desert. They zoomed over sandy dunes, swerved around large rocks poking out of the sand, and soon, they were able to see the Lost City of Ouroboros.

"What is that place?" Cole asked over the radio.

"Looks like Snake City," Jay replied.

"Let's get a closer look," Kai said.

He sped up and the rest followed.

(Line break)

The ninja looked around and noted that all the Serpentine were together and not fighting.

"It appears Pythor has successfully united all of the tribes," the white ninja said.

"I know we ruined their last get-together," Cole stated, "But that's no reason not to get an invitation! My feelings are hurt."

Aniki snickered quietly. Being around the boys meant for a great time, even if they were about to enter a stadium full of snakes.

"There's Lloyd!" Kai pointed out the boy, who was sitting forlornly in a cage.

"Oh, and look at who they worship!" Jay said, pointing to a giant statue.

"Let me guess," Aniki muttered, "The Great Devourer."

"All the more reason to get Lloyd out of here," Kai pulled out his sword, "This ends today."

His teammates did the same as they ran into the stadium... only for a cage to fall on them. The boys let go of the Golden Weapons, which landed outside the cage. The Serpentine looked their way.

Lloyd gasped and gripped the bars of his cage, "Aniki! The ninja!"

The boys groaned and stood up. Aniki stayed on the ground, her eyes rolling.

"Looks like we've caught the main event," The five looked up to see Pythor laugh and gather up the weapons, having taken Aniki's Energy Gauntlets with his tail.

(Line break)

Half a dozen Serpentine led the ninjas into the stadium. The boys looked at a large set of bars on one side of the stadium while Aniki kept a worrying eye on her foster brother.

"What do you think he meant by 'main event'?" Jay asked his eyes wide.

"I think we're the main event!" Kai answered.

"Or the main course," Cole added.

Aniki groaned, "Don't say that."

"Kai," Zane said, "you may be right. Things may come to an end today."

"Ehhh, don't worry," Jay said nervously, "The samurai could still come around to save us!"

"So, you wanted a battle!" Pythor's voice rang out, "And I give you one! I give you... Ninja versus! Samurai!"

The bars suddenly moved, revealing the samurai and his robotic suit. Chains were wrapped around the robot's wrist, but four of the Serpentine quickly took them off. The ninjas stared up at the samurai in horror.

"What?" Jay yelled in disbelief, "We have to fight the samurai? We don't even have our Golden Weapons, and he has that hulking thing of armor! And it's... it's not fair!"

"I want to see once and for all," Pythor declared, "who is the greatest hero! Is it samurai… Or ninja? Only the victor will be allowed to leave!"

"Stay together," Kai ordered.

"Perhaps he can join our team to fight our way out," Zane suggested hurriedly, "After all, he hates the Serpentine, too."

The samurai suddenly lunged out and threw a Frisbee-like weapon at the five. They hit the ground, trying to avoid it.

"Scratch that," Cole said, rubbing his head, "He is not on our team!"

"I've been hopin' for this!" Aniki stated, putting a fist in her hand, "Now I'm gonna have some fun with the hero wannabe!"

Cupping her hands, and sent an invisible energy that knocked the exo-suit down, then, like a rag-doll puppet, she shook it left and right, knocked it against three pillars and threw it back into the cage, all with her hand and mind. All that exhausted her though and the samurai got back into the game.

The samurai lunged out again, and the ninjas leaped over the robot and landed gracefully on the other side of him. The samurai whipped around as the ninjas pressed together and tossed an S-shaped shuriken at them.

They dodged it, and Jay taunted, "Ha-ha! Missed me!"

Then, with a sharp "CRACK!" the shuriken flew back like a boomerang and hit Jay on the back of his head. The samurai caught it and seemed to grin at them. The five ran back into a group. Cole patted his friend's head before they all struck fighting poses. The samurai took out a huge sword and brought it down on them. Aniki, Cole, and Zane dove to one side, while Kai and Jay dove to the other.

He lashed out at the two sides and Zane finally suggested, "Tornado of Creation?"

The other four nodded.

Cole brought a hand to the dirt and spun into his Elemental tornado, "Earth!"

"Fire!"

"Ice!"

"Lightning!"

"Energy!"

"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" The five tornadoes spun together, creating one, giant cyclone of the five elements.

Multiple objects were sucked into the cyclone, including some candy belonging to a Constrictai, until it disappeared. In its place was a giant slingshot and five hidden grins. In the slingshot was a large, spiked rock. The ninjas pulled it back and fired the rock at the samurai, knocking the robot straight into Pythor and Skales. The Spinjitzu users thundered towards the robot and the snakes.

Pythor pulled down on a lever, which made spikes protrude from the ground. The floor tipped dangerously, causing four of the ninjas and the samurai to fall back. They tumbled down the floor and grabbed at the six spikes at the bottom of the ground.

Cole scoffed, "Can this get any worse?"

"We must continue to make it appear as if we are fighting for real," the samurai said in his metallic voice.

Jay tilted his head, "We're not fighting for real?"

"Keep up the charade. And hold onto my exo-suit."

The boys complied and the robot's rockets fired up. The six began rising into the air, until the rockets began puffing out smoke instead of fire.

"There's too much weight!" Kai yelled.

The robot's torso lowered and the samurai hopped out, allowing his exo-suit, as well as the ninjas, to fly off.

"I can't believe he just saved us!" Cole shouted over the roar of the rockets.

"He stole our thunder again!" Kai exclaimed.

"GAH! I HATE SAMURAI!" Jay screamed.

Pythor and Skales watched as the ninjas spiraled out of sight.

"Go, ninja, go!" Lloyd cheered.

The samurai landed on the stands and punched two Serpentine in the face before jumping onto the ground.

He ran towards Pythor, who quickly unlocked Lloyd's cage, used the boy as a human-shield and yelled, "Get him!"

"Get in line!" Aniki shouted having hid behind a column.

Dozens and dozens of Serpentine advanced on the samurai. But, the man had a few tricks up his sleeve... literally.

He pulled up his sleeve, revealing a small watch and said, "Magnetizer activated."

A beam of blue light shot out from the watch and pulled away the five Golden Weapons. The samurai wrapped them up in a blanket and threw his shuriken out. It pressed against a button, causing the floor to move again.

Aniki jumped him and punched and kicked him quickly and effortlessly. He activated his jetpack and took off but not before Aniki grabbed her gauntlets and turned them into her Heligizer and flew to find her teammates. The samurai landed on top of the Great Devourer statue and took a bow, then flew away.

(Line break)

"How d'you turn this thing off?" Kai yelled.

The ninjas sped through the cloudy sky before crashing into the sand. Kai tumbled out of sight. Jay, Cole, and Zane landed a few yards from each other.

Jay stood up and looked around. Aniki came to their rescue, reverting her ride back into her weapons. Zane had just stood up, and Cole was beginning to do the same.

"Where's Kai?" Aniki shouted to her teammates.

(Line break)

Kai had fallen much farther away than the rest of the ninjas had. He was stuck headfirst in the sand and was struggling to get out. Somehow, the ninja of fire freed himself and looked around.

"Guys?"

Overhead, the samurai's jetpack was starting to break down.

"Wha…?" Kai glanced up, "The samurai?"

He watched as the samurai crash-landed, and ran to him.

"Testing... Testing..." The robotic voice reached Kai's ears as he ran, "One… two..."

The samurai pulled his sparking helmet off, revealing... a familiar female figure.

"Nya?" Kai asked as he saw the short, black hair.

Nya glanced at him and put the helmet back on, "Steer clear, ninja. Don't look..."

Nya tugged the helmet off once again and sighed, "...At me."

"I don't understand," Kai walked towards her, starring in awe, "You're the samurai?"

"It was always a boys' club, save for Aniki," Nya set down the helmet.

"Wait," Kai jokingly interrupted, "Aniki's a girl?"

Nya smiled and continued, "You never let me try to help. So... I found my own way to be a hero. Are you mad?"

"Mad? Of course not! It's just... all this time, I've been trying to protect you! And, you've never needed it. You're amazing!"

"Girl power!" Nya lightly punched Kai's arm, "You're not gonna tell the others, are you?"

"But, we have a bet! We said whoever caught the samurai would be the Green..." Kai saw the look on Nya's face and he sighed, "Of course, I won't say anything. How did you make all this stuff?"

"You'd be surprised how much spare time I have, waiting for you guys to come back from your missions," Nya gave him the Golden Weapons, "You'd better head back before anyone gets suspicious. We'll have to rescue Lloyd another day."

Kai sighed again, "Aniki's not gonna like that. He's part of her family... And, Nya. Whenever I get in trouble, the other four always have my back. But, you... just... be careful, will you?"

"Promise. But I'm gonna have to take a break, Aniki really bruised me up."

"But, how are you gonna get back?"

"I have my ways."

She picked up her helmet and pushed a button.

(Line break)

Cole, Aniki, Zane, and Jay looked around the desert.

"Kai?"

"Kai!"

"KAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII!" That one was Aniki.

Behind the four, the robot whirred to life. It stood up and closed its torso.

"Quick!" Jay yelled as they turned, "Get it! It's gonna get away!"

The rockets roared yet again, and before they could blink, it was gone.

Jay groaned, "Great. Now we lost Kai. The samurai suit is gone. And, Aniki's ride can only carry two so we have no way to get home."

His remaining teammates turned while he was ranting and Cole said, "I wouldn't say that."

Jay turned as well and started. Kai was at the top of a sandy hill, gripping the Golden Weapons in his hands. The red ninja waved with Cole's scythe.

(Line break)

"He was all mysterious."

It was night, and the ninjas were getting ready for bed. Kai was telling his friends and his sensei of the samurai while they brushed their teeth.

"Never said a word... Handed me the Golden Weapons and poof! He was gone."

"Poof?" Cole rolled his eyes, "He just poofed?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Kai," Jay raised his hands, "If the samurai had his hands on the most powerful weapons in the whole wide world, why would we just give them back to you?"

"Mmm, I dunno. Maybe she… Uh, I mean, he's not so bad after all. All I do know is that we owe him our lives. Maybe he's made us all a little better."

"I sense this means the bet is off," Zane noted.

"Ya think," Aniki answered.

"More importantly," their master reminded, "My nephew has found his way into the den of all snakes! I fear there may be no way of rescuing him, now."

"Sensei," Kai said, "There always a way."

"And, don't worry," Cole assured him, "We'll find it."

"And get him back," Aniki added, "We promise."

The old man smiled and left their room, closing the door behind him. He passed Nya, who was about to step into her own room and handed her a shuriken in the shape of an 'S'.

"I think you forgot this?"

Nya took the shuriken and the sensei went on, "Iron sharpens iron, and sibling sharpens sibling."

(Line break)

**Well, I'm not gonna ask if they do rescue Lloyd and discover who the Green ninja is because you can just find out by watching the show, But I have two things to say. 1: starting after the chapter "The Green Ninja" there will be two or three "episodes" that explains more about Aniki. And 2: don't worry about the LEGO group cancelling the show; I hear they'll do a third/fourth season in late 2013 or in 2014. But I will say this, if they do permanently cancel it, it's probably for the best so the show doesn't jump the shark and become stupid. Don't worry, more chapters on the way but tell me what you think, especially with Aniki: like her, hate her, know who/what she really is?**


	11. Tick, Tock

**Hello there! Sorry it took so long to post, I hope you enjoy.**

**(Line break)**

"Ten minutes!" Kai exclaimed.

Kai, Cole, Jay, and Aniki stood, gathered around a stopwatch Kai was holding.

"He just broke his own record," the fire ninja continued.

"The guy's inhuman!" Aniki yelled in awe.

Beneath the Bounty, at the bottom of a lake, Zane sat, meditating. A fish swam in front of him and the ninja gently stroked its back. The fish swam away and Zane, now very limited on air, planted his feet on the ground, and then shot to the surface. He broke the surface with a gasp; the sound of cheers greeted his ears.

Cole laughed, "Amazing!"

Zane grinned and splashed his friends.

"We're not worthy!" Jay backed up and bowed quickly.

"Dude, that was totally awesome!" Aniki peered over the edge and smiled down at him.

"I broke the record?" the white ninja asked.

"You destroyed it!" Kai exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," Jay spoke as Zane got up on deck, "Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking? We've been training for so long; I don't think we can get any better! Just think of all we accomplished!"

And, they had accomplished a lot. Kai had run down a road of hot coals for five minutes without tiring or getting hurt. Jay had stood upside down on the tallest building in Ninjago City for ten minutes, during a thunderstorm, without falling off. Cole had lifted the heaviest weights in the training room, as well as Nya and Jay. And even Aniki had grown stronger, now able to run faster and jump higher than any human.

"The question should be raised," Zane stated, "Perhaps we have reached our full potential."

(Line break)

Sensei Wu sheathed a katana and sighed as Zane's voice rang outside, "Well, every morning, I do five hundred push-ups."

"Five hundred?" Kai laughed as the ninjas opened the door to the sensei's room and walked in, "Ha! Try a thousand!"

Jay smirked, "I do a thousand and one."

"Two thousand, seven hundred, and thirty-five push-ups per day," Aniki gloated, closing her eyes and pointed to herself, "but who's counting?"

"What is this, amateur hour?" Cole walked in, "Sounds like my warm-up! Sensei, what does true potential look like if…"

The ninjas grew alert; there was something troubling their master, most likely them.

"Our apologies, Sensei," Zane addressed as he and the others bowed, "We've interrupted you."

The old man put away the katana and sighed again, "I'm sorry if I've been... distant lately. My mind has been elsewhere since Lloyd has gone missing... Wh…what can I help you with?"

"Sensei," Cole asked, "what if we've done enough training? What if we've reached our true potential? What if we're ready?"

Their teacher chuckled, "You might have reached peak physical condition, but, you've yet to reach your inner potential…"

As he spoke, his students listened intently, "In each and every one of us, there are obstacles that hold us back. Only when you conquer that fear will your heart be free. Only then will you reach your true potential. Only then will we have a fighting chance to stop the Serpentine from releasing the Great Devourer."

Zane walked forward, "There's more to the Great Devourer than you've let on…."

He placed a hand on his sensei's shoulder, "…Isn't there, Sensei?"

The elder sighed once again, "I too have obstacles within my own heart. There's a story I've never told you…"

(Line break)

_Two boys, one with blond hair and the other with brown, stood back to back, each holding a katana._

"Long ago, when I was a young boy..."

_The boys began play-fighting._

"... Garmadon and I were more than brothers. We were the best of friends…"

"Wait a minute!"

(Line break)

Sensei Wu was pulled from his story as Jay interrupted him.

"Now, I knew you two were brothers," Jay intervened, "But, really? The king of cruelty, the ruler of destruction, the captain of chaos... and you two were… friends?"

"Ahh, come-on Jay," Aniki snapped, "No one's _born_ evil."

"Please," Sensei Wu instructed, "No interruptions."

He went back to telling the story.

(Line break)

"You see... he did not always have a wicked heart…."

_Watching the two boys, as well as polishing five golden weapons, was an old man: the boys' father. The boys laughed and fought each other playfully._

"One day, I lost this very katana…."

_The boys frowned as the younger of the two accidentally tossed his katana. They turned to their father._

"Knowing our father would be mad, my brother told me to go retrieve it…."

_The taller of the two boys, Garmadon, pointed to the wall and, not bossily at all, told his brother to get the katana. The smaller boy, Sensei Wu, scrunched up his face and shook his head, too scared._

"But, I refused. He told me not to put off what can be done today, and went to get it himself."

_Garmadon said something to his brother, gave Wu his katana, and climbed up the wall. He looked around until he spotted the katana under a bush and reached down to get it. But, a green snake lunged out from the shadows of the bushes and sank its fangs into Garmadon's hand. Garmadon jumped in fright as his vision swirled. The snake slithered away. He swayed and collapsed on his side, passing out. _

"When my father found him, he was very ill, for he was bitten by a legendary snake that would grow forever as long as it consumes…"

_A vision of the snake, growing a bit larger and then roaring entered their minds._

"A great evil had found its way into my brother's heart, for the snake's venom could turn the purest of things wicked…"

_Little Wu peered into his brother's room, where their father was leaning over his eldest._

_"Leave it!" Garmadon shouted, pushing his father away, "Leave me alone! I don't need you! I hate you!"_

_Wu looked back into the hallway, terrible visions clouding his mind._

"The snake is the same one the Serpentine want to reawaken today."

_"Ngh!" Garmadon growled in pain, "It hurts!"_

_The boy looked to his brother, his black eyes, which were widely common in Ninjago, turned red._

_"It's all _**Wu's fault!**_"_

_Little Wu's eyes grew wide and he ran off._

"It is the snake... that took my brother away from me."

(Line break)

"So, the Great Devourer turned your brother into the Dark Lord?" Kai asked.

The very thought sounded horrible to the ninjas. It's bad enough when someone you love turns dark and you must battle and possible destroy him or her, but when that person had little to no choice in deciding to be good or evil made the feeling all the harder.

"... It was all my fault," The mentor lamented, his eyes were full of sadness.

He closed the case that the katana was in and picked it up, lecturing, "You five have finished your training. You must now focus on stopping Pythor from collecting the five Fangblades. But, never lose focus on the obstacles that lie within each of your hearts. That hold you back from true greatness. Unlock your true potential."

"But, how are we supposed to do that, Sensei?" Zane wondered.

"it is up to each of you to discover," The sensei walked past them, "Now, I must go on a personal journey of my own."

His students followed him.

"Where are you going?" Jay asked.

"To a place you cannot follow."

"If you're going for Lloyd," Cole warned seriously, "The City of Ouroboros is filled with hundreds of Serpentine."

Aniki grabbed her adoptive uncle's shoulder, "You'll never do it alone!"

"I am going to find someone who can be of aid," The elder turned to face his students, "The Serpentine have united, and grow stronger. We will need all the help we can get."

(Line break)

The ninjas watched as Sensei Wu walked down a ramp from the Bounty, which was now anchored beside a rock. Jay waved slowly as Aniki tried stifling her tears. She never liked the idea of someone seeing her upset. Old memories of her adoptive family played in her mind and she still couldn't see anything that warned her about her "father's" fate.

(Line break)

The Serpentine were in the Constrictai's tomb, reading the paintings on the wall.

"It says nothing about where the five Fangbladesssss are hidden!" Skales hissed, "Have our ancessssstors left us nothing? Where are they?"

"This, here," Pythor turned and slithered to a marble platform, "must be a clue: _**When five fangs unite as one, the path toward the Devourer has begun**_."

"Yes," Skales said impatiently, "when the five tribes unite... We've done all this! It means nothing! If you don't find out soon, the others will begin to ask questionsssss! And, soon, they will start to think you don't know what you are doing!"

"I know what I'm doing, fool!" Pythor snapped. "I'm trying to unleash the Great Devourer!" His tone grew softer, yet it was still tinged with venom. "Legend spoke of a map showing exactly where the five Fangblades have been buried. There must be something around here... Keep looking!"

(Line break)

Nya pinned a flyer to the side of a building. The flyer read:

**Missing Call Ninja at 555-122091-1**

In the middle was a drawing of a Fangblade.

Zane sighed, his arms had a stack of flyers identical to the one Nya had just put up, "This is silly!"

"D'you have any better ideas?" Cole asked.

"Hey!" Jay exclaimed, "Maybe Sensei's gonna go get the samurai for help!"

"Th-the s-samurai?" Kai stammered as he and Nya froze, "Oh, I'm sure she's- uh, I mean, he's busy looking for the Fangblades as well."

"Uh... is everything all right?" Cole asked.

"Y-Yeah! Why wouldn't it be?" Kai lied quickly.

"One-hundred-percent!" Nya said, smiling nervously, "We're not hiding anything!"

Aniki narrowed her eyes, Kai and Nya's tone made it clear he wasn't going to tell them anything, "Okay, if nothing's wrong..."

Nya and Kai nodded in unison. While his friends were talking, Zane felt something... unusual. He stared up at the sky. Papers fluttered from his stack, but the ninja didn't pay any mind to them. A man came out of the store Zane was in front of and noticed the papers.

"Hey! Weirdo!" The man nudged Zane roughly, but the ninja ignored him, "Yer making a mess of my storefront!"

He put his hands on his hips, when Zane didn't reply, the man grew annoyed, "Yoo-hoo! You got a problem?"

Zane dropped the rest of the flyers and continued staring up at the sky.

"Maybe I should teach you a lesson on manners!" the man snapped, now angry.

"Hey! Leave him alone ya jack wagon!" Aniki came around the corner, her black eyes gleaming with unnatural anger.

"Wha...!" The man was taken aback, his eyes became wide, then they narrowed in fury, "Why you…"

"I'm sorry, sir!" Kai, Jay, Cole ran around the corner as well, "She, um, can be every overprotective and, uh, he is sometimes in another world."

"He's littering all over the place!" the man reported, "And she has absolutely no manners!"

Aniki clenched her fists as hard as she could, which caused her knuckles to turn white, ready to pounce.

"We'll pick it up," Cole assured, "And we'll teach her to mind herself. So sorry."

He, Jay, and Kai bent down and started picking up papers while Aniki and the man glared daggers at each other. Aniki snorted angrily and helped pick up the dropped papers, the nerve of some people.

"Hey," Kai stood up with some papers clutched in one hand, and placed his other hand on her shoulder, "Cool down, we're the good guys, remember?"

The man went back into his store after glaring at the orange and white ninjas. When he was gone, the boys stood up.

"_Zaaaane_," Jay whined, "What's the deal?"

The white ninja had stopped beside the store and was still staring at the sky. His friends walked to him and followed his gaze. Up in the sky, flying in circles, was the falcon. Zane stared, mesmerized, and raised a hand in greeting to the bird.

Jay gasped as he and the others ran to Zane, "It's the falcon! Oh my gosh, every time we follow it, it leads us to good fortune!"

He, Zane, Cole, and Aniki ran towards the falcon, while Kai turned to Nya.

"Head back to the Bounty," he ordered, "and wait for us."

"Wh-where are you going?" Nya asked worriedly.

"We're gonna follow the bird," her older brother replied, "Who knows? It could lead us to the first Fangblade!"

He ran off and Nya face-palmed, sighing.

(Line break)

The falcon led the five ninjas through a desert, through a field, over a snowy mountain. It showed no sign of slowing.

Kai stopped for a moment, looking through the blizzard he and his friends were clambering through, "I guess good fortune is really far away."

The falcon flew to a cliff and its followers began climbing up. Right in the middle of the cliff, Jay settled himself onto a protruding rock, panting.

His friends looked at him until he panted, "You... you g-go on... I'll catch up later..."

(Line break)

Kai, Zane, and Aniki ran over a fallen tree acting as a bridge over a deep chasm. Cole was lagging behind. His teammates made it over, but Cole was literally dragging himself forward. Zane and Aniki turned in concern.

"I'm good," the black ninja said between gasps. "Just... takin' a breather! I'll.. I'll meet up with you sh-shortly!"

(Line break)

Kai stopped running and put his hands on his knees, pressing down on the red cloth of his suit.

"Good thing..." he panted, "We're in peak... physical... condition..."

He shook his head and sighed heavily, then ran after Aniki and Zane, who hadn't slowed down at all.

(Line break)

The falcon flew through a snowy forest, still going quickly.

"Gosh, that bird just keeps going!" Kai panted as he and Zane stopped.

"What do you make of this?" Aniki pointed to a sign that read **Beware of Treehorns**.

"I am not familiar with a... Treehorn," Zane stated.

"Probably just some wild squirrels..."Kai waved off.

The falcon cawed and Zane looked to it.

"Well, don't lose him!" Kai said, "I'll wait for the other guys to catch up."

Zane and Aniki both nodded and began running again.

"Where are going, my... mysterious friend?" Zane panted, running after the falcon.

Suddenly, the falcon began beating its wings furiously. It stopped flying, then fell to the snowy ground, its chest sparking. Zane headed for it, then stopped when the falcon twitched and sparked again. Zane and Aniki's expression changed to ones of horror.

"It's a... a robot?!" Aniki shouted.

Zane gently picked up the falcon and carried it to a tree, then set it down softly.

A sharp noise, though, forced the ninjas' heads to snap up. They looked around, aware of a robotic-like sound... almost like mechanical legs moving. They raised their arms in defense and began moving in a circle, Zane keeping his back to the falcon the entire time.

And then... it was there. A large, golden robot with aqua-blue optics. Beams of light pulsed from its eyes, locking on the ice and energy ninjas, who quickly tugged on their hoods and prepared for battle.

"_**Intruders! Intruders!**_" A computerized voice issued from the robot, "_**Prepare to be terminated!**_"

A laser gun rose from the robot's shoulder and began firing at them, who dodged each of the attacks. The white ninja took out his shurikens and transformed them into his motorcycle. Aniki hopped on as he drove off away from the robot, which kept firing at him.

Zane grit his teeth as he dug his feet into the metal of his motorcycle. The robot, though, fired a shot at them that knocked the ninjas off the motorcycle. As they flew through the air, Zane got a good look at the robot's back: right where its battery pack was located.

Zane and Aniki landed on the snowy ground and he grabbed his shurikens as they flew back to him. The robot turned to look at Aniki and Zane and the ninjas beckoned it forward with a taunt.

The robot took on the challenge and aimed a gun at Zane, locking onto him perfectly, causing the ninja to become worried. With agility, the two went to a nearby tree and climbed it as Aniki fought back with energy blasts, then jumped to the ground and yelled, "Ninjaaaaa-Go!"

Using their Spinjitzu, Aniki and Zane flung snow at the robot and immobilized it.

Zane ran up to the robot while it got out its gun and fired. He jumped and the shots missed him by a few inches. The robot tried to target Zane again, but was unable to due to the ninja's agility. Zane ran up to the robot again, hoping to make his mark, and when he jumped, he landed on the robot's back. With his shurikens, he hacked at the battery pack. With each hack on the glass protecting the batteries, the robot did a curious dance before it finally gave the world a salute and fell to the snowy ground.

"The same symbol..." Zane observed, looking at what was left of the battery and climbing off the robot.

He went up to the falcon and picked it up.

He walked up to the tree with the same symbol and asked the falcon curiously, "Where have you brought me, my falcon friend?"

The white ninja turned to Aniki who just waved him off panting, "It's…okay…I'll just… Tell the…. Others… where you… huuuhh… went…"

He opened the door to the tree and peeked inside. A spiral stair case leading downstairs caught his attention. He ventured inside and took off his mask. What he saw down below looked like a lab of some sort with a bed and a table that contained blueprints. Curiously, Zane went up to the table full of blueprints and placed the falcon on the table.

"So, this is your home, my mysterious friend," Zane said to the falcon, his words more of a statement than a question.

Zane looked over the blueprints of the falcon and then went to fix the falcon with ease. It came back online and flapped its wings.

It came to land on Zane's arm and Zane asked, "You brought me here... but why?"

The falcon flew off of Zane's arm as Zane turned around to look back at the blueprints. He looked through them and one in particular caught his eyes. He grabbed it and examined it with curiosity. Once he realized what that particular blueprint was about, his eyes widened in horror.

"No! No, it... can't be!" Zane yelled as he dropped the blueprint, then he fell to his knees screaming, "No! _**Nooooooo**_!"

(Line break)

Sensei Wu walked through Relic Village, his walking stick in one hand and the katana case in the other. He walked up to the two Skeleton generals, who were at the moment engaged in a game of Rock/Paper/Scissors. When they saw him, they panicked.

"Aahhh! Retreat!" one of them yelled as they ran away.

The old man simply ignored them and entered the nearby teahouse.

(Line break)

Cole, Jay, Kai, and Aniki walked into the workshop-tree where Zane was lying on the floor.

"Zane?" Kai called out as the four went down the stairs.

"Wow!" Jay exclaimed, "Would you look at this place?"

The orange ninja rolled her eyes then looked down and spotted her other friend asking, "Zane? What's wrong? You got hurt?"

When Zane didn't respond, the ninjas began running until they reached him.

"Are you hurt?" Kai repeated Aniki's question.

"You okay?"

Zane sighed. He turned to the blueprints, which were back on the table and grabbed the paper. The ninja looked at it for a moment, then reached down to his chest. With a small pop, a small door on his chest opened, revealing metal gears, wires, and switches. Cole, Jay, and Kai let out yells of horror, while Aniki gasped and covered her mouth.

"You're... a robot?!" Kai exclaimed.

"All this time..." Zane said with a sad tone, "...and I never knew."

Jay's eye twitched slightly.

"Aahhh.. Guess this explains why you're always acting so weird," he said in a shaking voice, "R-right?"

He laughed nervously.

Aniki whacked the blue ninja's head, hissing, "Not… helping."

Zane gave them a sad look and murmured, "The reason I have never had a sense of humor is because my 'funny' switch wasn't on."

He put his hand to his humor switch and flicked it into the 'on' position. Instantly, he began dancing and singing.

"Hello, my baby, hello, my honey, hello, my ragtime gaaaaal~!" he sang, grabbing Aniki's hand and twirling her around.

Zane spun and released Aniki who then whirled around the workshop while he held an imaginary microphone and danced, "Send me a kiss by wiiiiiire~"

Jay burst into laughter and clutched his stomach, while Cole helped Aniki, whose eyes were still rotating slightly, stop spinning. Zane turned around and flicked his humor switch again, then sighed and fell to his knees. This was not a fate he wanted, being a machine made him feel low. For one thing, it meant that he would be a teen forever and never be able to have children of his own; secondly, he may live on while his friends pass and fade away. And finally, knowing what he knew now made him doubt whether he was truly a good person who became a ninja to help others, or if he was just doing what someone else wanted him to do.

Cole stepped forward and tried to sooth his metallic friend, "It just makes you... more special! You're... still the same Zane, just more... uh... gears."

"No matter what you're made of," Kai said, walking to his friend, "you're still our brother."

Zane looked up and asked, "Really?"

He got to his feet, and then his female friend greeted him with a bear-hug.

"You're more human than any of us," she assured him, then spoke in her usual rude manner, "But if you ever sing or pull me into your comedy again, you're gonna lose a diode."

"In fact, I bet it makes you an even better ninja," Cole declared.

"Yeah!" Jay joined the four, "And, how cool is it that I can honestly say 'my brother's a nindroid.'"

"A nindroid?" Zane looked confused.

"Now, come on," Cole put a hand on Zane's shoulder, "Pythor is still out there, looking for the first Fangblade. And we need you."

Zane faced the wall, "You'll... have to go on without me. I just... don't feel right."

(Line break)

"We just need to give him time," Aniki insisted as she and the others walked out of the metal tree.

"Yeah," Kai agreed, "I don't know what I would do if I was told I was a robot."

"You mean a nindroid," Jay corrected with a smug smile.

"Yeah, whatever," Kai rolled his eyes.

"Hey, how the heck do we get out of this place?" Cole asked, gesturing around at their surroundings.

The four were quiet for a moment, until a soft pounding reached their ears.

"What's that?"

Jay put a hand to his ear and listened, while Kai and Cole looked around. Aniki merely stepped back, her fear kicking in.

"Cute, tiny birds?" Jay said hesitantly as he and the others pulled on their masks.

"Did you see that?" Cole cried, spotting a few tree trunks move as if they were legs.

"Moving trees?" Aniki's eye twitched and she formed an energy shield.

"I don't see anything!" Jay took a step back.

"I just saw it, too!"

The ninjas watched in horror as the trees all began moving, revealing them to be not trees, but...

"Treehorns!" Kai shouted.

Kai, Cole, and Jay got out their Golden Weapons and the four went back to back as the Treehorns surrounded them. Kai opened his mouth, about to speak, but a robotic mumble and a spout of nonsense interrupted him. The red ninja turned to see a golden robot lying on the snow, its back sparking,

"Oh no," Kai moaned. "I think that thing was supposed to protect this place! Guys, it's up to us!"

"What?" Aniki cried in anger, "Why can't it be up to the universe? It's obviously got enough power to give us bad luck!"

Jay brandished his nun chucks and charged at a Treehorn. He swung the nun chucks at the Treehorn's legs and knocked it over, but was trapped by another behind it.

"Ninjaaaaa-G- Oof!" Kai was kicked in the middle of his Spinjitzu and slammed to the ground.

He shakily got up and crawled to retrieve his sword, but a small group of Treehorns surrounded him and proceeded to continuously knock the air out of him.

Cole grabbed the foot of a Treehorn and swung it around, hitting any others near him, at least until he let go and many more surrounded him. They pinned the black ninja down.

And Aniki? The orange ninja held her shield in one hand and used the other to throw energy blasts. Unfortunately her plan of attack did little damage and soon she too was struck to the ground as a Treehorn swatted her with one of its long legs.

"There's too many of them!" Cole yelled.

(Line break)

Zane looked at his blueprints sadly. He traced a finger over his designs.

"A... a memory switch," he said softly.

The ninja opened the door on his chest and located the memory switch. Instantly, his head was filled with once-lost memories.

(Line break)

_"Hello, Zane," a middle-aged man with slicked-back brown hair and black eyes under worn glasses softly greeted, waking up the "teenager" for the first time._

_Zane remembered his creator helping him walk to a mirror, and seeing his reflection. Then came the memory of Zane kicking a ball happily at the wall, only to be knocked down; the older man rushed to his side and smiled when he saw that Zane wasn't hurt. He remembered his creator nodding approvingly at his attempts to cook._

_Zane found more memories, of him hugging a small toy bird lovingly, which soon lead to one of his creator building and activating the falcon, of playing with a little toy car as the falcon sat on his arm. He saw a memory of his creator taking a picture with him, Zane, and the falcon for a family photo._

_He remembered being loved and giving love. His maker became his father, teaching the lad everything about being human, most importantly how to be brave, kind, and a true friend. All for Zane's original purpose: helping those who can't help themselves._

_But, he also remembered when his father had passed on. The now old man told Zane he loved him one last time, making the future ninja smile even though Zane still didn't entirely understand what was happening, then the man opened the door on Zane's chest and pushed the memory switch into the off position. Then, as Zane's memories started fading away, he had died. Zane instinctly and unknowingly shut the door on his chest and started looking around, not knowing where he was nor why he was there; he didn't even remember who he was._

(Line break)

Zane stood still as a single tear trickled down his face. The ninja slowly turned around and pulled a cloth off of a hidden picture frame. In that frame was the family photo his father had taken long ago. His father had loved him... and so did his friends. So what if he wasn't physically human, the ice master was still everything a hero was: compassionate, loyal, courageous, friendly and most importantly, willing to do anything to help his friends. And he had free will, something the larger golden robot definitely lacked.

Zane allowed the falcon to land on his arm, then he took off running up the stairs.

"Hey, guys!" he shouted, "Wait up!"

He ran out of the workshop, a smile on his face, but that smile quickly disappeared when he saw his friends' limp bodies being pummeled by moving trees- Treehorns.

Zane pulled on his mask and yelled, "Leave my friends alone!"

He ran to the nearest Treehorn and jumped up, then struck the bottom of its lower jaw. He then moved onto the next creature. As he fought, his teammates slowly sat up.

"What's gotten into Zane?" Cole asked numbly as Jay helped him up.

"I don't know," Kai said, standing up, "But, I like it!"

"Let's do this," Aniki yelled, pounding a fist into her hand.

The five ninjas formed a back-to-back circle and shouted, "Ninjaaaaa-Go!" then spun into their Spinjitzu tornadoes and fought off the Treehorns. Cole knocked them down with his scythe. Jay stunned them with his nun chucks. Kai set them ablaze with his sword. Aniki distracted them with her energy balls and pushed one with her powers.

And Zane? The white ninja was fighting like there was no tomorrow. Knocking them to the snowy ground, stunning them senseless... He was certainly doing a brilliant job. All of them were, until the Treehorns began to fall back.

"Are they... regrouping?" Jay asked, hesitation in his tone.

A loud, ear-splitting roar reached their ears. The five ninja turned to the sound.

"What's that?" Jay cried.

"The queen," Zane answered.

Aniki looked up at the giant Treehorn. It was much, much larger than the others, with dozens of bright red eyes.

"Oh this isn't good," Aniki muttered, "Not good at all."

The queen Treehorn let out a roar again, causing the ninjas to snap into fighting positions.

"You will not hurt my friends!" Zane yelled determinedly.

He spread his arms protectively as the other four stepped back.

"There is nothing that will hold me back!"

He pulled out his shurikens and spun them around in his hands, forcing them to glow a light blue. Energy surged from the golden metal and his eyes started glowing.

"I know who I am!"

With a blinding flash of blue light, Zane was floating in the air, his eyes completely light blue, and his shurikens spinning wildly. The queen took a few big steps backwards, mildly startled by the human.

"What's happening to him?" Kai wondered aloud, "Is he programmed to do that?"

"It's amazing!" Aniki said in awe.

"I've never seen a robot do that!" Jay exclaimed.

"You mean... a nindroid," Cole corrected without looking at him.

"Yeah... whatever."

"Zane's unlocked his true potential!" Cole realized as Zane's light grew brighter.

Zane threw his shurikens to the side and dropped into his Spinjitzu. He swirled around the queen, confusing the beast. The ninja flew back into his blue light and smashed his shurikens together, creating a huge beam of ice. The beam hit the queen right in the center of her chest and ice instantly began forming all around her. When she had frozen completely, Zane's arm fell to his sides and his head lolled slightly. His glowing eyes faded back to black and he fell to the snow.

Jay, Kai, Cole, and Aniki gathered around their friend as he slowly got up.

"Ugh... what... happened?" Zane asked wearily.

"That was awesome!" Jay cheered.

"Zane, you were so cool!" Aniki cried in amazement, patting him on the back.

"You should've seen yourself!" Kai said excitedly.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Cole admitted.

"This must be what Sensei meant about unlocking our hearts," Zane mused, looking at his hands. He stood and faced his friends, and pulled off his mask "I remember now… I- I remember everything. I remember my father and how he cared for me. I remember where I came from. And I feel stronger for knowing."

"I'm so jealous!" Cole raised a fist slightly, "His powers are so cool!"

"We have our very own nindroid!" Jay cheered.

With that, the ninjas jumped into the air and high-fived at once. Zane pulled on his mask again and walked away from the group.

"Watch out, Pythor. We're coming to get you!"

(Line break)

Fangtom opened his two jaws, "Where are…"

"…the five Fangblades?"

"What if there issss no map?" Acidicus hissed from Pythor's right.

"I know, I know!" Pythor yelled irritably, "But, I don't know where to look!"

"Then, I am taking my staff back!" Fangtom hissed, grabbing his staff.

"Me too!" Acidicus followed the Fangpyre general's lead.

"Me three!" Skalidor grabbed his own staff, knocking the back of Acidicus' head in the process.

Said Venomari general grew angry and beat the top of Skalidor's head. The two staffs were forgotten as the generals began fighting. When the staffs hit the floor, the antidote for their powers leaked out onto the ground and mixed.

Pythor growled and forced the two generals to stop fighting, then slithered over to their staffs. His pinkish eyes widened at the sight of the mixed antidotes.

"That's it!"

"What's it?" Skales was startled by Pythor's sudden outburst as the latter picked the staffs up, and then placed them around the platform so the antidotes would be able to leak out onto the marble.

"The map of fangs! It's been right in front of us this whole time! When the five fangs unite as one, the path toward the Devourer has begun! It's not speaking of the five tribes! It's the venom in the five staffs!"

He put a piece of paper underneath the staffs, then waited. They dripped and dripped until the entire map was formed. Pythor pulled the paper back out and held it up triumphantly.

"Behold! The locations of the five silver Fangblades! Soon, the Great Devourer will be unleashed! And Ninjago will be ours!"

(Line break)

Sensei Wu closed his eyes and sighed. He was sitting at the top of the highest mountain in the Mountains of Impossible Height. The tea kettle he had purchased was sitting in front of him, boiling in a small fire. The sensei pressed in hands together in meditation, then stood up and gently picked up the kettle.

He walked around the fire and poured out the tea as he walked. When he had finished, the bright orange flames of the fire changed to blue in a burst of sparks. The old man picked up his walking staff and his katana case, just as a glowing portal appeared before him.

He then walked into the portal slowly, leaving behind the kettle and the blue fire, which changed back to orange as the portal disappeared.

(Line break)

The master yelled as he tumbled through the portal's tunnel, only to be spit out onto a murky gray ground. He brushed himself off, and then stiffened as a familiar, unnerving, evil laugh echoed in his eardrums. Coming to this place was the easy part, now for the hard part; it was time for an overdue family reunion.

(Line break)

**Ooooohhhhhh, (creepy witch voice) very in-ter-est-ing…. (end creepy witch voice); now, confession time, I didn't go into much detail was I usually do because (a) I didn't want to for reasons which are my own, (b) it involved snakes, or (c) needed more flare.**


	12. Once bitten, Twice Shy

**And we're back, well… I'm back. Enjoy, I only own Aniki and plot changes.**

**(Line break)**

On the bounty in the conference room, Nya took off the cover from a Fangpyre skeleton.

"Some villagers unearthed the remains of a Fangpyre a few miles away," Nya began her lecture, although some of the ninjas weren't quite that interested: Cole was painting a picture of him fighting, Aniki was half asleep on the table, Kai had his feet up, Zane was listening intently and Jay had his hair teased up and was just staring dreamily at Nya.

"It predates the golden age and must be hundreds of years old," Nya continued and activated a laser pointer at the fangs of the skeleton, "Although the venom in the fangs of the Fangpyre genetically mutate human cells into reptilian, I've learned there could be a way to stop the effects without having to create an anti-venom…"

At this point, Nya's cheeks were turning pink, "If one is able to wildly raise their heart rate, hypothetically it could reverse the venom's effects. Resulting in… diminished…,"

Nya lost concentration, "Excuse me is someone wearing perfume? I'm _severely_ allergic to perfume."

"Ehe! You told me it was men's cologne!" Jay whispered to Kai.

"Eh. I get them mixed up," Kai responded to which everyone except Jay and Nya laughed.

Kai and Zane high fived before Zane opened his arm panel and switched off his humor switch.

"Whelp, looks like history class is over. Time to start stompin' serpentine but before they find any Fangblades, for sure!" Cole said as he and the others got up.

"Yeah! I am so pumped!" Aniki cheered as they began walking out the door.

"I'm excited to join!" Zane added.

Jay walked with them before stopping by the door, and then walked to Nya.

"Uh… Hey uh, Nya? I'm sorry. The reason I was… I went to Kai because he… huuuhh… What I'm trying to say is…" Jay stammered.

"I know, it's just a cruel joke. I should be fine, please, go fight snakes," Nya reassured.

"No, no- no! I was trying to impress you. Look, before Sensei left, he said our hearts was the key to unlocking our true potential," Jay explained.

"You were trying to impress, me? But I look so…"

"Fantastic…. Maybe if you let me, I could take you to some big fancy restaurant! You know… You don't have to if you don't want to…"

"Y…You mean like a date?"

"Ummmmm… Y…Y…Yeah?"

"Sure! I'd love to! But I have to go before the perfume toxins enter my blood stream and I go into shock. See you tonight!"

Nya picked up her lecture and then left the room.

"YYYYYEAHH!" Jay jumped for joy, "HAHAHAHAHA! Ja- chukka- uh- huhu!"

Jay then pricked his hand on the fang of skeleton in his happy state, "Ow! Man!"

As Jay shrugged, it wasn't like he got bit or anything; it was nothing, so he left the room not knowing that a single drop of green venom fell from the fang and when it reached the ground.

(Line break)

Sensei now stood a few feet away from Garmadon in the dark world.

"Hello brother. What took you so long?" Garmadon asked.

He then talked bit as he turned his back; he was playing with his prey. When the old man demanded why the dark lord came to this evil place; the latter answered by turning around and revealing his four arms, startling the mentor. He then grabbed some weapons and charged to Wu who then slid underneath and then parried each of the weapons with his old katana. Garmadon growled in frustration and piled all of the weapons onto the sensei's katana. The latter then fell down the hill into a muddy field. The former jumped and landed in front of his brother.

Sensei jumped back onto his feet and used Spinjitzu to spin a bit away from Garmadon, who covered his eyes from the hurling mud. Garmadon raised his arms in the air and large mud monsters emerged from the mud and began to surround Sensei. Sensei quickly tackled each of the monsters using spinjitzu before stopping in the middle.

"Brother! I've not come here to-"

"You will pay for your visit!" Garmadon cut Sensei off, "Mud monsters CONVERGE!"

The mud monsters trapped Sensei in their bodies.

"You don't belong here old fool! You should have known better than to try and stop me!" Garamdon said

"I didn't come to stop you! I came to warn you! To tell you! Mhf!" Sensei yelled as he continued to struggle but he got covered for a split second,

"Your children are in danger!" Sensei managed to get out before he got sucked in again, only his hand was free.

"Aniki?! Lloyd?!"

Parental instinct kicked in and the dark lord rushed to pull the old man out of the mud monsters. The younger gasped for his breathe when his older brother got him free.

"What has Lloyd gotten himself into? And Aniki? Is she alright? Is she safe?"

Sensei raised himself up a bit, "Lloyd has opened a can of worms I fear I will never be able to close."

"You mean we might never be able to close, Get up. You can tell me more later," Garmadon helped his brother up from the mud, "First we need to return home. How did you find me?"

"Travelers Tea. But I used it all, and now have no way back." Sensei replied.

"There is only one way to return to Ninjago. But to get there, we must first pass through the Mountain of Madness. And it is a long and dangerous road ahead that will take days, maybe weeks to travel."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"We should leave now before it gets really dark."

Sensei looked up to the sky before the two brothers began their journey.

(Line break)

In a grassy field, a Constrictai warrior bursted out of the ground. Some of the serpentine and the five generals climbed out of the hole, Pythor insisting on the Constrictai warrior's assistance. Skales unfurled the map.

"Thissss is it Pythor. The map leads us here, the first Fangblade," Skales said, pointing to the Mega Monster Amusement Park.

Realizing that they would bend in, the serpentine group began casually walking to the amusement park. Some people there were dressed as different creatures, making them look like park employees. One family even asked to take a picture with Pythor. The family walked up to him and turned around for the camera which Skales was holding.

"Say Cheesssssssssssse!" Skales held the camera up.

"Cheese!" The family said.

(Line break)

On the _Bounty_, Jay was in the bathroom wearing a tux and practicing his lines in front of a mirror.

"Did I ever tell you that I was the first one to learn Spinjitzu? No uhhhhh, I mean… uh… I invented Spinjitzu. Yeah that's it. I invented a few other moves, like the karate double chop…. Wha ha!"

Jay did two mid-air punches before seeing his left hand. It was green with dark green scales.

"No, No no no! The prick from the Fangpyre fang. Oh no, this isn't happening. No, it's nothing, it's just a rash, it'll probably just go away, you're gonna do great Jay. This is your chance to shine! _Ehehe.._."

(Line break)

Jay slid into the control room with both hands gloved and he was now wearing a scarf on his neck.

"And just when I thought Jay couldn't get any dumber," Aniki muttered to herself loud enough for Jay to hear.

"Where are you going Mr. Fancy?" Cole asked.

"You didn't hear? I'm taking Nya to a nice restaurant!" Jay gloated, "A _really _nice restaurant."

"I hope it's not too nice when she dumps you," Aniki said, causing Jay to fume a bit.

"You might wanna change your plan," Kai interjected, "The radar picked up serpentine activity over at the Mega Monster Amusement park."

The screen was frozen on a picture of the serpentine taking a picture with a family.

"Hey that's Pythor!" Jay said.

"Nooo, really?" the energy mistress sarcastically retorted, "I thought that's the pizza delivery boy."

"Pythor would not be there for fun," Zane stated, "If he's there, then that means that a fangblade is there too, buried beneath the park."

Aniki shouted, "Well we can't let them get it!

"Oh but my date," Jay moaned.

"Jay, if they get all five of them, Pythor can unleash the Great Devourer," Kai reminded, "Get your priorities straight man."

"Yeah, Nya is a total wishy-washy helpless princess who can't go two seconds without getting into trouble," Aniki lectured, "you totally deserve better than a baby like her, even if you are a complete dork."

Kai growled and glared at Aniki while Jay thought for a moment before an idea struck his head.

(Line break)

Outside the bounty, Nya, who was now bruise free, was flying in her samurai suit and flew into her room. She took off her jetpack when someone knocked on her door.

"Uh, Nya? Are you there?" Jay asked with the door slightly opened, before Nya hastily closed it.

"Don't come in! I'm getting ready," Nya hastened.

"Um, I just wanna talk to you about our date," Jay was saying while Nya put her suit and weapons away, except for the helmet that she put on the floor, "You know I-I'm hearing really bad reviews for the restaurant…"

Nya's bracelet flashed red before bringing up a hologram of a part of Ninjago with a red dot on the Mega Monster Amusement Park, "Serpentine spotted at the Mega Monster Amusement park?"

"You know I think we should cancel," Jay finished as Nya opened the door.

"Oh… you're canceling?"

"No, no-no, I was just… I just wanted to know if you would rather go to the… Mega Monster Amusement park instead."

"Really?! That would be perfect! A-Aren't you over dressed?" Nya asked before spotting the helmet she left on the floor.

"Well yeah but of course I need to change," Jay explained when Nya kicked the helmet into the closet, "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Nya hastily replied, "You know what? I'll dress up too! It looks fun!"

Nya walked behind a changing screen, looking for the outfit she chose.

"Huh, you know I was thinking we could take my Storm Glider there."

"Sounds like fun!"

She stepped out of the changing screen wearing a beautiful red dress and made Jay squeak. Aniki was so wrong about Nya.

"I'm in your hands," Nya said as she picked up her bag, then shrunk her helmet and put it in her bag and then walked down the halls with Jay.

(Line break)

At the Mega Monster Amusement park, Jay and Nya were sitting in a restaurant with large burgers in front of them. Nya was listening to Jay ramble.

"Yeah, when I was young it was clear I was born and bred for adventure. I was the first to get my knot badge in little scouts. I was always trying new foods, ha ho ha, I once built these wings from scrap metal," Jay rambled, at some point Nya's bracelet was rapidly flashing, "Uh… You okay? You seem kinda distant."

"Uh, yeah! It's just the portions are so big. And to think we split our dish," Nya replied.

"Eha. So uh, that samurai," Jay fumbled a bit, obviously out of topics, "Um, I hate him. Don't you? He's such a show off. I-If you ask me, he's nothing without his clunky exo suit…"

"Oh," Nya said flatly.

"Yeah, nothing can compare to two good ole fashioned feet and fists. Don't you think?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, sure," Nya replied.

"You know, sssssssomebody oncssssse told me-"

Jay was now hissing on the "s"-s or "s" sounds. He picked up a spoon and turned to the side. In the reflection on the spoon, he had two little fangs.

"Are you okay?" Nya asked.

"Excusssssse me. I have to use the resssssssstroom" Jay covered his mouth and ran into the restroom.

When he got inside, Jay dunked his slightly green face into the water. After, he took of his left glove, which still looked the same.

"Oh gosssssssh. I'm turning into a sssssssnake!"

(Line break)

In one of the park's rides, called the _Ghost Train_, a group of people were riding it.

"Ha. Lame!" a guy complained in response to a vampire, "This ride is stupid!"

Skales was digging at a point in the train ride, and the train was passing by.

"Ha! Look at how this guy looks!" the guy said in response to three of the Venomari, which they retaliate by spraying the passengers.

Then they start panicking from the hallucinations.

(Line break)

A guy walked into the restroom and tried to open one of the stalls, the one Jay was in.

"I'm bussssy dude! Can't you ssssssee itssss taken?" Jay barked and the guy left.

"I can't go out there looking like thissss! Thisss isss the worssst date ever!"

Meanwhile, Nya was still waiting at their table, a bit worried.

(Line break)

Outside, the rest of the ninjas were standing around.

"Where is everybody?" Kai asked.

"Maybe they heard your danger-prone sister was here and decided not to stick around," Aniki joked.

"When we get back to the _Bounty_," Cole said as he grabbed Kai's arm to stop him from attacking Aniki, "we seriously gotta talk about your recent insult campaign."

They then heard screaming from the ride and saw a group of people running out in panic.

"Wait a minute. That ride was never scary," Kai said.

"Venomari," Zane deduced.

"Shouldn't we get Jay?" Aniki asked.

"Let's not bother the two lovebirds" Cole answered, "We can handle this."

"Excuse us folks, Outta away, nothing to see here people, move! This is official ninja business," Aniki and Kai said as the team minus one lightning master ran into the ride.

(Line break)

In the restaurant, Nya's bracelet beeped again and she sighed.

"Sorry Jay. Duty calls," Nya grabbed her bag and ran out of the restaurant.

Jay was still in the restroom looking at his reflection. His face was now a light green and had dark green scales on the sides.

"Huh well. You don't look ssssssso bad… jusssst go out there, and tell her the truth," he tried to reassure himself until something went rip.

Jay looked to his back and saw a small tail.

"Huhm…. A-aa! I have a tail! Uhmm, itsss okay, Jay," He began walking to the door, "Girlsssss like tailssss."

Jay walked to their table to see it empty except for their burgers.

"SSShe left? Nya?"

"S…s…s…snake!" a customer yelled when he saw Jay.

Once that shout was heard, all the people inside began beating Jay in a group with various objects. Outside, Nya ran into an alley and changed into her samurai suit before calling her exo suit to her using her bracelet. Nya jumped in and ran to the _Ghost Train_.

(Line break)

Inside the ride, Skales was still digging when he hit something metal. Pythor grinned as he pushed the dirt away, revealing a fangblade.

Pythor chuckled as he held the fangblade up high, "The first fangblade is ours!"

Kai raised his golden sword above his head and set it aflame as the others readied their weapons.

"Not so fast!" Kai yelled.

"_Really?_ That's the best you've got?" Cole glared, shaking his head.

"Couldn't really think of anything on the fly," Kai said.

"Well how about… Time to burn!" Cole mocked, "Or a… Jump on this fire rod!"

"Well next time you lead," Kai glared.

"Well maybe I will!" Cole argued.

"Oh yeah, if you can catch up!" Kai countered.

While they were arguing, the serpentine readied their weapons.

"That's it!" Aniki shouted, breaking up the two, "From now on, I take the lead!"

So then the two groups fought, neither side really winning, until Zane had an idea.

"Watch and learn brothers and sister," Zane closed his eyes and focused.

His eyes glowed blue and he began to have icy energy cover his body. Pythor and Skales prepared themselves for an attack. Zane was lifted a bit into the air by a blue light. A blue blast came from Zane's body but when it ended, he and the other ninjas were frozen in blocks of ice.

"Oops," Zane said.

"Great," Aniki sarcastically groaned, "Isn't this magical, we're ninjasicals!"

Pythor and his slithering companions began laughing at the iced team while the other ninjas glared at Zane. The serpentine ran out of the ride when a magnetizer drew the fangblade from Pythor to the Nya in her exo suit.

"Stop Him!" Pythor shouted.

Nya activated her rockets but they just puffed out smoke.

"Booster malfunction."

Nya then ran into the roller coaster part with the serpentine hot on her trails. She climbed to the top of the roller coaster and rode on the rails down with the serpentine just watching her go in a full circle.

After the roller coaster, Nya dropped from a Ferris wheel but some serpentine dropped in front of her. Nya ran again but the constrictai cut her off and dog piled her. The constrictai damage her exo suit to the point of it shutting down. Pythor slithered to them as the compartment opened.

"Finally… The mystery man is revealed," Pythor said.

A Constrictai warrior removed the helmet, showing Nya to the serpentine.

"Or should I have said, mystery _girl_. Who's gonna save you now?"

(Line break)

Back in the restaurant, Jay was still being battered. Jay managed to run into the bathroom and shut the door. After a few seconds, the crowd was still throwing things at the door when Jay opened the door. This time, he had his scarf on his head like his ninja mask.

"Do not go in there! He bitess!" Jay warned so to try and get out, "Thiss iss not dinner theater people, Itss real! Ssave yourselves!"

Jay tried his best to make the least hiss sound walked out of the resturanunt and looked to his tail, now grown a bit more.

"Nya?! Where iss sssshe?" Jay then saw Pythor with some of the serpentine, "Hey!"

Jay caught the serpentines attention. Jay brought out his nun-chucks and readied them, while showing his tail. The serpentine broke out into laughter again; this was not a good day for the ninjas.

"Awww. What happened… snake bite your tongue?" Pythor mocked, Jay began to run to the Serpentine before someone called to him.

"JAY!" Nya called, she was strapped in chains to the roller coaster seat, "HELP!"

Pythor made a signal for a Constrictai warrior. The warrior pulled a lever, and the ride started.

"Later alligator! Let's go boys," Pythor left the park with the serpentine while Jay ran to the ride and got in before hanging onto the seat where Nya was.

"What happened to you?" Nya asked.

"What happened to you?" Jay asked back before seeing that a part of the tracks was broken and a ring of fire.

Jay tugged on the chains, "We have to get you outta here!"

That's when Nya noticed Jay's tail.

"Were you bit? Take of your head scarf," Nya said.

"I prefer not, I wassss meaning to tell you but I didn't want to ruin our date," Jay admitted.

"Aww, that's so sweet," Nya said before struggling a bit more, "Hey! You were the first in your little scouts group to get your knot badge right?"

"Ehehe. About that, I made that up jussssst sso I could impresss you. I wass never in little scouts," Jay sadly confessed.

"You weren't? Oh, hold on!" Nya said.

"What, you have an idea?" Jay asked.

"No, Hold on!" Nya said as they were at the top of the roller coaster and it was about to do the steep dive.

Jay jumped into the seat next to Nya and held on as they descended. And during the descent, Jay's scarf flies off from the wind. Once the ride slows down a bit, Jay realizes that the scarf was off.

"Gah! Don't look at me! I'm a monsssssster!" Jay said, "Though I hate the Sssssamurai, where isss he when you actually need him. SSSSSSAMURAI! HELP! HELP! SSSSSAMURAI!"

"Jay, I don't think the samurai is coming," Nya said.

"Why?" Jay asked.

"Well this may not be the best time but I haven't been totally honest either," Nya admitted.

"What isss it?" Jay asked.

"I…I'm the Samurai!" Nya loudly confessed.

"HUH… You're the SSSSamurai?!" Jay said shocked.

The ride sped closer and closer to the break.

"Ah! We're running out of tracks!" Jay panicked.

"Jay, if anything horrible were to happen, I want you to know that you don't have to wear perfume, or pretend to anything you're not. Because, I like you best when you're you," Nya said.

Nya kissed Jay and a yellow glow enveloped him, restoring and curing Jay of the venom.

"Your face, you turned back to normal," Nya noticed.

"Huh, it's just like you said. You've must have raised my heart rate," Jay smiled, now free of the hissing accent.

"Whatever happens next, just remember," Nya said as they neared the break, "You are the best you."

Once Nya said that, Jay stood up and electricity was starting to cover his body.

"What's happening?" Nya asked, amazed.

In small flash and glowing blue eyes, Jay was in his ninja suit and became a being of pure lightning.

"My true potential!"

The ride was nearing the break. Jay teleported to the front of the train and began to push with all his might on the ride to stop it. Jay managed to stop the train just before it went through the fire ring. Jay reverted back into normal while still holding the train, and letting out a few breathes of relief and exhaustion.

(Line break)

Outside the park, the once frozen ninjas joined up with Nya and Jay. There, Nya, Jay, and Kai told the other three everything.

"You're still in big trouble for embarrassing and humiliating us," Aniki snapped, the only ninja not at all impressed, "and I was so right 'bout the 'danger-prone' thing."

"You really had me fooled, I never would have guessed you were the Samurai," Zane said.

"I wish I had a sister like you," the earth master said.

"What am I, chopped liver?!" the orange ninja glared.

"Technically, I was the first to discover her secret. And didn't we agree that whoever found out was the best and naturally the Green Ninja? Huh? The Green Ninja? The destined ninja to defeat the Dark Lord? Garmadon? Huh?" Kai asked enthusiastically.

"Why would we say that?" Jay asked.

"

"Nope, that conversation is not in my database," Zane said.

"Besides, even if we did make that bet, I still one-uped ya," Aniki gloated, pointing to herself, "I totally kick the samurai's butt!"

Kai just shook his head and Nya glared at the girl ninja.

Aniki then groaned and added, "Sorry 'bout that puppeteer thing back at snake city, it was a new trick I figured out and I wanted to make you pee your pants a little."

"You know what I learned today?" Jay interjected, changing the conversation.

"What's that?" Nya asked.

"No matter what secret you have, whether you're a snake or a samurai, it's important to be yourself," Jay explained.

"Yeah that's cute. But you wanna know what I learned? The serpentine now have the first fangblade," Cole reminded everyone.

"But we are getting stronger. One day for sure, all of us will reach our true potential," Zane said confidently.

"And Pythor will be stopped," Aniki added.

"We figured out all this without Sensei. Pretty good for five ninja," Jay said before Nya slugged him in the arm, "And a Samurai."

"I wonder what Sensei's doing now?" Kai wondered.

(Line break)

Sensei and Garmadon had reached the base of a valley and the Mountain of Madness was at the middle. At the top was a glowing blue peak.

"The worst is yet to come." The older of the two warned.

(Line break)

Later that night, back on the _Bounty_, the ninjas and Nya were discussing something very important.

"_Seriously?!_ You called me a baby and a wishy-washy princess?" Nya scolded.

"Nooo," Aniki corrected, "First I called you a 'total wishy-washy helpless princess who can't go two seconds without getting into trouble' first, _and then_ I called you a baby. And, I only said that so when you dump Jay, he won't get too upset."

"Ahh, what do you mean by 'when Nya dumps me,'" Jay demanded, "shouldn't that be an 'if.'"

"Whatever," Cole brought everyone back on topic, "the point is: you're goin' a _little _overboard with the insults, Aniki."

Kai raised an eyebrow, "_A little_? It's like she can't last three seconds without bein' mean."

"I'm not bein' mean," Aniki defended, "I'm tryin' to be a sibling and the voice of reason. Look, except for Lloyd, I never had any experience at being a sister. The only thing I know about being one with a bunch of brothers and sisters that are all at my age is that siblings are bound by natural law to _drive each other as insane as humanly possible._"

"Okay, I get why you act like that to be a sister," Jay interjected, "but what makes you think you're the 'voice of reason'?"

"Because I'm the only ninja who can fight without doin' something stupid, like today, for instance," she answered, a look on her face saying _'I'm on the same team so why are you treating me like I'm not?'_, "seriously, do you all think for one second it's easy being the only girl in a team of five that include four idiot boys who can't go a second without getting' into some kind of fight?!"

Seeing his female counterpart's expression, Zane jumped in, "we're all sorry if we are upsetting you, we just worry that you're becoming someone you're not."

Everyone was silent for a moment, until Aniki snorted and said, "I'm moving into my own room."

With that, she left to get her things, and the others followed trying to calm her down.

"Come-on Aniki," Cole tried to persuade her, "Zane's right, we're all really sorry."

"Oh, not as sorry as you all are gonna be," Aniki answered, trying to hold in a laugh.

It was Nya's turn to be confused, "what do you mean?"

"You all drank the water fountain water at the park when I warned you all not to," the ninja girl explained, "and now to all, except maybe Zane, are gonna have a date at the oval office."

As Aniki turned around, left the other five and headed for an empty room, five pairs of eyes widened when they realized what the queen of sarcasm meant: explosive diarrhea.

"Oh no," Cole squeaked.

(Line break)

**Oh no is right: never drink the water from any amusement park unless you bring your own or if it's a fountain drink from a soda brand from a vendor. So, what do ya think, love it or not? And Aniki, any ideas? Come on, don't be shy, there's no such thing as a dumb review…**

**Random reviewer (not a real on, just for a joke): turn this into a Jay/OC (Aniki) fic.**

**Me: that's the dumbest review I ever read.**


End file.
